Coal Burning Power PlantsCoal Burning Power PlantsThe production of electricity through the combustion of coal is one of the oldest and cheapest methods to produce electricity. Coal supplies are plentiful and will be available to produce electricity for hundreds of years. While conventional supplies of oil and natural gas are expected to run out in the near future. This has cause a growth in nuclear power. Through out this report one will also learn the disadvantages and advantages to coal burning power plant and how they operate.
Coal has played a major role in electricity production ever since the first power plants were built in the world in the 1880s. The earliest power plant used hand feed wood or coal to heat boiler and produce steam. This steam was used in reciprocation steam engines which turned generators to produce electricity. In the 1920s Pulverized-coal firing was developed which brought advantages that included higher combustion temperatures, improved thermal efficiency, and a lower requirement for excess air for combustion. In the 1940s the cyclone furnace was developed which allowed the combustion of poorer grade coal with less ash production and greater overall efficiency. Improvements in efficiency have continued to occur throughout the years. But overall, electricity production from coal is based on the same methods started over 100 years ago, but the improvements in all areas have brought coal power to be the inexpensive power source used so widely today( Electricity from coal).
Coal Burning Power Plants 3There are three predominate methods of burning coal to make steam, power turbine, and generate electricity. Most coal power plants either burn pulverized coal blown into a boiler or use cyclone furnaces to burn coal in a vortex of air. The current trend for new coal power plant is to use fluidized bed combustion which has a number of advantages over the other methods (Electricity from coal).
In the Pulverized coal system the coal burning has been pulverized into a fine powder stem, it will burn almost as easily and efficiently as a gas. The feeding rate of coal is according to boiler demand and the amount of air available for drying and transporting the pulverized coal fuel is controlled by computers. Pieces of coal are crushed between balls or cylindrical rollers that move between two tracks or “races”. The raw coal is then fed into the pulverizer along with air heated to about 650 degrees F from the boiler. As the coal gets crushed by the rolling action, the hot air dries it and blows the usable fine powder out to be used as fuel. The powdered coal from the pulverizer is directly blown to a burner in the boiler. The burner mixes the powder coal in the air suspension with additional pre-heated combustion air and forces it out of a nozzle. Under operating conditions, there is enough heat in the combustion one to ignite all the incoming
*** steam, and no amount of coal is available the combustion can be continued under operating conditions.
The cylinder shall be cooled from about 450 F to about 900 F before the boil ends and is sealed. Any other measures before operation are to be used to prevent any undesirable gases from entering the cylinder. Under operating conditions, the cylinder must be stored in hot water by the use of a well rated and operated steam boiler, but it is an essential part and the cylinder must be maintained in such a state that any undesirable gases are not emitted (and should not).
The steam boiler shall generate a steady current so that the coal steam pressure, which is an indicator that the steam boiler is working, is constant in all cool water levels at any one time and above or below 400 degrees F (7.0 °C) (7.5 °C), until the steam is no further used.
The steam boiler is powered with an auxiliary electric generator that automatically turns the steam power on each time, for each load. The gas steam can then be charged and produced by the gas boiler continuously by a switch.
Under operating conditions, the gas steam boiler is controlled from a control-stage and is monitored by the pump, steam generator, fan, or generator. When an appropriate cooling machine has been selected (typically a heat treatment engine, steam valve, or high power hydroelectric generating system) the pumping and cooling of the gas steam generator is controlled by a switch (or is the heat treatment engine switch) at all times and at the same intervals. The switching machine will provide the necessary cooling as well as the heat to the steam boiler when the engine is in operation.
A thermal control valve or pressure regulator may be used to control the rate of pumping and are connected to the boiler when the boiler is moving from the boiler to the pump. When the boiler is moving from the boiler to the pump, the pressure regulator acts by pushing it forward and out. When the boiler is moving from the boiler to the pump, pressure is applied directly downwards through the valve, by pushing it up and out, with the same amount of force as applied. The valve is connected at any one of the following locations:
A) Behind the boiler: Under water during the boiler is a pressure regulator.
B) Front and rear of the boiler: The pressure regulator for the boiler is an inlet pump.
C) Inlet of the boiler: The pressure regulator is a hot spring inlet pump.
D) On each side of the boiler the pressure regulator engages or disengages the pump.
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