COAL

By Anindya Dhar
 CESC - Power Generating Plants

Name of the Station Commissioned Present Capacity

New Cossipore 1950 100 MW (2x30 + 2x50 MW)

Titagarh 1983 240 MW (4x60 MW)

Southern 1990 135 MW (2x67.5 MW)

Budge Budge 1997 500 MW (2x250 MW)

TOTAL 975 MW
 Annual Coal Consumption
4.9 Million Te (approx)

Coal Consumption (Million Te)

3.0 2.50
Coal Consum ption

2.5
(Million Te)

2.0
1.20
1.5
0.75
1.0
0.45
0.5
0.0
NCGS SGS TGS BBGS
Name of Pow er Station
 SOURCES OF PROCURED COAL

 Eastern Coalfields Limited  1.35 Million Te

 Bharat Coking Coal Limited  0.45 Million Te

 Integrated Coal Mining Limited  2.70 Million Te

 Imported (Indonesia)  0.40 Million Te

TOTAL  4.90 Million Te

 COST OF FUEL PROCUREMENT

 Cost of Coal per annum  Rs 750 crores

 Railway Freight  Rs 125 crores

 Railways Demurrage  Rs 3 crores

 Cost of Oil  Rs 15 crores

TOTAL  Rs 893 crores

GENERATION DIVISION EXPENDITURE

 Total Budget  Rs 1070 crores

 Operation & Maintenance  Rs 180 crores

 Repair & Maintenance  Rs 95 crores

 Capital Expenditure  Rs 35 crores

 Cost of Coal & Oil  Rs 893 crores

 COST OF GENERATION

 Coal cost (Generation basis)  Rs 1.06

 Oil cost (Generation basis)  Rs 0.019

 Fuel cost (Generation basis)  Rs 1.08

 Fuel cost (Sent out basis)  Rs 1.18

 WHAT IS COAL

 Chemical & Geological Studies have shown that coal is

formed from vegetable material like trees, plants, etc

 Fossil tree trunks or fossil roots in the coal seams

prove this point

 Various ranks of coal represent different degrees in

the conversion of original plant material
 ORIGIN OF COAL

 There are 2 theories :

 Autochthonous (Growth in situ)

 Allochthonous (Drift origin)

 ORIGIN OF COAL

 Growth in situ – Plants grew & decayed in the same

area where we find coal today. Numerous fossil tree
trunks or fossil roots in the coal seam are proof of this
theory. Eg. Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, USA

 Drift Origin – Vegetable matter got carried away by

water into neighbouring lagoons, lakes & estuaries.
Fossil tree stems without attached roots are proof of
this theory. Eg. Delta of Mississipi

 Gondwana seams in India are proof of the drift origin

 FORMATION OF COAL

 Plant material underwent decay under moist conditions

by bacterial attack
 Decay continued until absence of supply of oxygen or
any other reasons which ended microbe activities
 Peat thus formed is then buried under mineral rocks &
pressed into more compact materials
 Chemical reactions like dehydration, decarboxylation,
dehydrogenation, etc took place where H2O, CO2, CO,
CH4 & H2S were removed & peat converted to more
neutral substances – lignite
 Aging of lignite into bituminous coal & then anthracite
was due to further reduction & condensation reactions
 TYPES OF COAL

Coal is classified into five main types, or ranks

depending on the amounts and types of carbon it
contains and on the amount of heat energy it can
produce.
 Peat
 Lignite
 Sub-bituminous
 Bituminous
 Anthracite
 TYPES OF COAL

 Peat
 Partly decomposed plant material accumulated in situ
under temperate marshy conditions
 Not coal but first stage in the conversion of
vegetable matter to coal
 USSR has 60% of world total reserves of peat
 In India it is found in the swamps of the Nilgiri Hills
 Moisture 15-25%; Ash 3-10%; VM 50-55%;
FC 25-30%
 TYPES OF COAL

 Lignite
 Woody or fibrous brown coal
 On drying, lignite shrinks and breaks up readily.
Hence difficulty in transportation
 Ignites spontaneously as it adsorbs oxygen readily
 Extensive deposits in USSR & USA
 In India it is found in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu
 Moisture 10-30%; Ash 5-10%; VM 40-45%;
FC 30-35%
 TYPES OF COAL
 Sub-bituminous
 Black in colour with dull, waxy lustre
 Denser and harder than lignite
 Appear in bands
 Disintegrates on exposure to atmosphere and so
difficult to transport
 Found in USA, USSR, Germany, Australia
 Tertiary coals in Assam, Kashmir & Rajasthan are of
this type
 Moisture 10-20%
 TYPES OF COAL
 Bituminous
 Raw coal that we use
 Name a misnomer. Coal does not contain true bitumen
 It burns with a smoky yellow flame similar to that of
bitumen & pitch obtained from coal tar is of a
bituminous nature
 Black, usually banded. Occurs in strata called seams.
 Lustre is bright to dull
 Extensive deposits in USA, USSR, Germany, China
 Inexplicably, 95% or world’s coal is in Northern Hemisphere
 2 very big deposits in India – Ranigunge & Bokaro-Ramgarh-
Karanpura coalfields
 Thickest coal seam (156m) in Rajmahal, WB
 Deepest coal mine (720m shaft) in Chinakuri, WB
 TYPES OF COAL

 Anthracite
 Most mature & hard form of solid fossil fuel
 Sub-metallic lustre
 Found in South Wales, UK, Pennsylvania (USA)
 In India it is found in Jammu & Darjeeling
 Moisture 0.5-5%; Ash 10-35%
 Coal Reserves in India
(As on 01.01.2007)

(in billion tonnes)

TOTAL PROVED INDICATED INFERRED

RESERVE RESERVE RESERVE RESERVE
COKING 32 17 13 2

NON-COKING 253 98 119 36

TOTAL 285 115 132 38

 CATEGORISATION OF RESOURCES

 The coal resources of India are available in

sedimentary rocks of older Gondwana Formations
of peninsular India and younger Tertiary
formations of north-eastern/ northern hilly region.
 Based on the results of Regional/ Promotional
Exploration, where the boreholes are normally
placed 1-2 Km apart, the resources are classified
into Indicated or Inferred category.
 Subsequent Detailed Exploration in selected blocks,
where boreholes are less than 400 meters apart,
upgrades the resources into more reliable ‘Proved’
category.
Coal Reserves in India
 Coal Reserves in India
 India has 2.7 percent of the world reserves
 Ranks sixth in the world in coal resources
 The resources are in Gondwana and tertiary
formations.
 The Gondwana coals are largely confined to river
valleys such as the Damodar (West Bengal and Bihar),
Mahanadi (Orissa), and Godavari (Maharashtra and
Andhra Pradesh).
 Coal fields of Assam of Jaintia and Barail series belong
to the Tertiary age. The lignite deposits of Jammu and
Kashmir, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are also of
the Tertiary age.
Coal Reserves in India
 World Coal Reserves
1001 billion Te proven coal reserves in 70 countries (end 2006)

USA 270 bte

Russia 170 bte

China 130 bte

India 92 bte

Australia 85 bte

South Africa 50 bte

 Top 10 Coal Producers in 2006

China 2482 Mte Russia 233 Mte

USA 990 Mte Indonesia 169 Mte

India 427 Mte Poland 95 Mte

Australia 309 Mte Kazakhstan 92 Mte

South Africa 244 Mte Columbia 64 Mte

Electricity from Coal
ANALYSIS OF COAL

 Proximate Analysis

 Ultimate Analysis
 PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL

 It indicates the following contents of coal in terms

of percentages by weight

 Moisture (IM)
 Volatile matter (VM)
 Ash (A)
 Fixed carbon (FC)

 This analysis is important in designing of boilers &

electrostatic precipitators
 PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL

 Moisture is the water content of coal. There is Surface

Moisture (SM) and Inherent Moisture (IM).

 Surface Moisture is loosely attached to coal and is

removed by air drying the sample
 Inherent Moisture is obtained when the coal sample is
heated to a temperature of 108 deg C until the weight of
sample becomes constant
 Moisture is undesirable as it takes away heat on
conversion to vapour form
 Higher moisture lowers the calorific value of coal
 PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL
 Ash is the inorganic residue left when the coal is completely
burnt in air (the coal sample is heated to a temperature of 850
deg C until the weight of sample becomes constant)
 Bulk of mineral matter in coal is clay & shale
(aluminosilicates). Other constituents may be calcite &
pyrites.
 90% of coal ash is silica, alumina, iron oxide & lime
 Mineral matter does not contribute to CV of coal. It
causes difficulty in efficient utilisation of coal.
 If ash content increases, there is restriction in passage
of air thereby lowering the rate of combustion. There is
increased heat loss, boiler deposits, clinkering, pressure
parts erosion, etc.
 More efficient Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP) are
required to avoid air pollution
 Problems in evacuation of ash and its suitable uses.
 PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL

 Volatile matter is the total loss in weight minus the moisture

when the coal is heated out of contact with air to a
temperature of 900 deg C for 7 minutes.
 Fixed carbon is the residue obtained by subtracting from 100
the sum of the percentages by weight of moisture, volatile
matter and ash. It is essentially carbon containing minor
amounts of nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen and hydrogen
 VM & FC represent volatile & non-volatile products of thermal
decomposition of coal. It is not constituent of coal
 FC does not include ash. It is the non-volatile residue of
organic mass.
 FC is a misnomer – it contains non-volatile parts of other
elements also
 HEAT VALUE OF COAL

 Useful Heat Value (UHV) = 8900 – 138 (A + M)

 If M is less than 2% & VM is less than 19%, then

UHV = 8900 – 138 (A + M) – 150 (19 – VM)
 Basis for reporting results of analysis

 Coal as obtained from a mine is known as the run-of-

mine coal (ROM coal)
 During the handling of the coal in transit, the coal
changes in its content of moisture and mineral
matter. Thus, when the customer analyses the coal
when it is received at his end, the data expressed on
this coal as a whole is termed as-received.
 When analysis is done after drying the coal after
exposing it to the atmosphere, it is called air-dried
 When analysis is done after exposing the coal to an
atmosphere of 40 deg C and 60% relative humidity,
it is called equilibrated
SAMPLE PROXIMATE ANALYSIS RESULTS

IM VM ASH UHV GCV EHV

ECL 5.5 32.0 22.0 5101 5631 5171
BCCL 1.1 18.8 34.4 3864 5046 4816
ICML 1.7 21.2 40.0 3137 4373 4108
INDONESIA 15.2 39.8 5.5 6049 5621 4796
SOUTH AFRICA 3.8 28.2 15.9 6180 6302 5857
 ULTIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL

 It gives the elementary composition of coal

 Provides the percentage by weight of the elements,
namely carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and
sulphur which constitute the pure coal free from
moisture and inorganic constituents

 The analysis is particularly important to make

stoichiometric calculations and in finding out Boiler
Efficiency
SAMPLE PROXIMATE & CORRESPONDING
ULTIMATE ANALYSIS RESULTS

IM VM ASH FC UHV GCV

4.1 27.1 34.2 34.6 3612 4783

C H S N&O ASH MOISTURE

48.3 3.1 0.5 10 34.2 4.12
 PRICING OF COAL

 Coal Pricing is fixed by Coal India Limited.

 Last Revision is done on 13.12.2007

 Pricing is done based on grades of coal

 Grades are fixed based on the Useful Heat Value of

Coal
 GRADES OF COAL
GRADE USEFUL HEAT VALUE
Grade A Exceeding 6200 Kcal/kg
Grade B Exceeding 5600 but not exceeding 6200 Kcal/kg
Grade C Exceeding 4940 but not exceeding 5600 Kcal/kg
Grade D Exceeding 4200 but not exceeding 4940 Kcal/kg
Grade E Exceeding 3360 but not exceeding 4200 Kcal/kg
Grade F Exceeding 2400 but not exceeding 3360 Kcal/kg
Grade G Exceeding 1300 but not exceeding 2400 Kcal/kg

Washery Gr I Ash Content exceeding 18% but not exceeding 21%

Washery Gr II Ash Content exceeding 21% but not exceeding 24%
Washery Gr III Ash Content exceeding 24% but not exceeding 28%
Washery Gr IV Ash Content exceeding 28% but not exceeding 35%
 GROSS & NET CALORIFIC VALUE

 GCV (HHV) is the quantity of heat liberated by

combusting the coal at constant volume/pressure in
oxygen saturated with water vapour, the original
material and final products of combustion being at a
reference temperature at 25 deg C and the water
obtained being in liquid state

 NCV (LHV) is the quantity of heat liberated by

combusting the coal at constant volume/pressure in
oxygen saturated with water vapour, the original
material and final products of combustion being at a
reference temperature at 25 deg C and the water
obtained being in vapour state
GROSS & NET CALORIFIC VALUE - Contd

 NCV is hence less than the GCV by the amount

corresponding to the heat of condensation of water
vapours, which at 25 deg C is 583.5 Kcal/kg.

 On the basis of hydrogen of the water this is equal

to 5252 Kcal/kg

 NCV = GCV – 52.5 H

where H = % of hydrogen of coal, including hydrogen
of moisture and of water of hydration of minerals in
coal
 EFFECTIVE HEAT VALUE

 Effective Heat Value (EHV)

= GCV (ADB) x [(100-TM)/(100-IM)]
- 5.86 (TM – 10)

 The second factor is considered when Total

Moisture is greater than 10%
 COMBUSTION & CALORIFIC VALUE

 Combustion is the process by which heat is

liberated from coal by its high temperature
reaction with an oxidant which is usually the
oxygen of the air

 Quantity of heat evolved by the combustion

of unit quantity of coal is its calorific value
or heating value
PROCUREMENT OF COAL
 COAL FOR GENERATION

 We procure coal from Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL),

Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL and Integrated Coal Mines
Limited (ICML). Some amount is also imported from countries
like Indonesia, South Africa and China.
 In BBGS, we take coal from all the above sources and the mix
for combustion is approx 20 : 80 (Hi : Lo)
 TGS receives coal from ECL, ICML and some amount of
Imported coal from South Africa or China. The mix for
combustion is 55 : 45
 SGS receives coal from ECL and ICML only. The mix for
combustion is 40 : 60
 NCGS requires good quality ECL coal as it has stoker fired
furnace
 COAL TRANSPORTATION
 Coal is delivered to our generating stations by rail. A typical coal rake contains
58 wagons carrying about 65 tons of coal in each wagon. Hence we receive about
3750 tons of coal per rake.
 BBGS requires about 60 such rakes per month, while TGS, SGS & NCGS
require about 30, 20 & 12 rakes respectively per month.
 Coal is received by BOX N rakes (unloaded through Wagon Tipplers in all
the stations) and by BOBR rakes (unloaded in the Track Hopper). BOBRs can
be unloaded in BBGS only

BOX N RAKE BOBR RAKE

PROCEDURE FOR PROCUREMENT OF COAL

 The utilities apply to CEA giving their coal requirements sourcewise

for the next quarter.

 CEA reviews the requirements from all power utilities and fixes a
linkage quantity sourcewise in the Pre-SLC (a meeting held between
CEA and representatives of all the utilities before the final SLC)

 Quarterly coal linkage to various utilities sourcewise are finalised at

the meeting of Standing Linkage Committee (SLC) comprising
representatives of Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Power, Ministry of
Railways, Central Electricity Authorities and representative of all
utilities.
SLC – APPLICATION FOR LINKAGE
SLC – APPROVED LINKAGE
PROCEDURE FOR PROCUREMENT OF COAL

 After the linkage is finalised, on a monthly basis, a programme is

submitted to all coal companies for issue of consent to supply coal.
The programme contains details of number of coal rakes to be
supplied to each of the generating stations as per SLC linkage.

 The consented programmes are then submitted to the Railways for

issue of sponsored movement sanctions.

 Daily liaisons are then started with the coal companies for
requirement of next one or two days coal of all the Power Stations.
Follow-up is done with ECL, Sanctoria /BCCL, Dhanbad, their offices
at Kolkata and Railways for allotment of rakes.
 MONITORING OF RAKE MOVEMENT

 After allotment of rakes, loading and subsequent movement is

monitored on a real time basis.

 Stations are informed of the coal rake movement in advance so as to

remain ready for the unloading of the rake.

 All our coal rakes are armed-escorted from colliery sidings to the
power house to prevent pilferage of coal enroute.
 3rd PARTY SAMPLING

 Coal is sampled by an agency agreed by both parties (called 3rd Party)

at both ends i.e., Loading end (Collieries) and unloading end (Power
Station) and average UHV is determined to determine the Grade.

 A rake often contains coal from multiple collieries and multiple grades
and is sampled accordingly.

 In cased of a grade slippage from the declared grade, payment is made

for the lower grade as found out from the 3rd Party Analysis.

 A final reconciliation meeting with coal companies is held periodically

for payment adjustment.
 GRADE SLIPPAGE RECONCILIATION

Reconciliation meeting for accounting of ‘Grade Slippage’ for a particular

calendar month is held on the 24th day of subsequent month between
CESC and Coal Company in alternative home and away basis. In this
meeting of ‘Technical reconciliation’, a consensus is reached on total
number of coal samples for a particular coal company and the total number
of coal samples which failed to arrive at the declared grade thereof
according to 3rd party analysis results. Representative of the 3rd party is
also a party to this meeting. Copies of MOM and detailed list of samples
are sent to respective ‘Finance’ departments.

Subsequently a consensus on recovery amount pertaining to ‘Slippage of

Grade’ is reached in a ‘Commercial reconciliation’ meeting between ‘Finance
Departments’ of CESC and Coal Company thereafter.
GRADE SLIPPAGE RECONCILIATION
 QUANTITY MONITORING

 Coal cost being the single most important cost element of the
division, close monitoring of the receipt quantity vis-à-vis dispatched
quantity by the coal company is of utmost importance.

 Quantity of coal is measured at both loading and unloading ends.

 In principle, both the parties accept weighment at the loading end

print on electronic weighbridge.

 Weighment of coal is carried out through Wagon Tippler weighbridge

(for Box N Rake) or In-Motion weighbridge (for BOBR Rake).

 Necessary upkeep, periodic calibration and certification of

weighbridges are done by Generating Stations.
 MONITORING OF SHORT-RECEIPT
 Wagon level weighment data are posted and duly certified in CMS
module by Generating Stations.
 The day-wise data is downloaded to Coal Cell legacy environment for
daily MIS - featuring Station-wise, Coal Company-wise and combined
Short Receipt / Excess Receipt (%) figures.
MONITORING OF SHORT-RECEIPT

SHORT RECEIPT OF COAL IN CESC POWER STATIONS (COMBINED)

YEAR R/R WEIGHT (T) STATION WEIGHT (T) %SHORT RECEIPT

1997-1998 2734292 2776002 -1.525

1998-1999 3043153 3027951 0.499

1999-2000 3353614 3342310 0.337

2000-2001 3748562 3714825 0.900

2001-2002 4012254 3948159 1.600

2002-2003 4163322 4139124 0.580

2003-2004 4197736 4218404 -0.492

2004-2005 4538328 4547076 -0.193

2005-2006 4821803 4899454 -1.610

2006-2007 4708954 4778071 -1.468