Originally Posted by ashbhatnagar

I am working on a project in Indinesia for a coal export terminal. The volatile material content in coal is 39 %. I read somewhere that this is considered as high volatile and the stockpile height should be restricted to 4 m. In that case I will have to have very long stockpile.

I have designed the system with 15 m heigh pile,

Open to forum for guiding on best solution.

Regards,

Ash

This is similar to lignite / brown coal. The coal may also have a higher moisture content.

If the stockpile is a pass through - (only temporary storage for few days awaiting shipment), you can have a higher stockpile as planned by you. You will of course take precautions in providing a fire-fighting system and designing equipment with geometry which does not allow areas where coal will get packed and will be difficult to clean. ■

...if you expect a realistic answer.

What is the coal size?

What handling methods are proposed?

What is the Safety regime?

What is the maximum residence period?

Volatile means tendency to vaporise. Just what is the 39% mentioned? ■

Hi ,you can use this kind of reclaimer and bridge stacker which attached ,then you don't need to consider the hight of the coal, and the length of stockpile is not very long. ■

Hello Ash Bhatnagar,

As you know, in India recognised coal stockpile height is upto 10 m, which has been adopted by hundreds of power stations. However, as I remember long time back, possibly Farakka CHP had some your kind of issue and they used somewhat less height, but not 4 m.

As far as your problem is concerned, you are to create stockpile height at export terminal. Now before reaching export terminal this coal must have been stored in stockpiles at place of mining or other intermediate agencies. So best option is to telephone them and enquire what height they are using for the stockpile. The authentic and tested information is only possible from them, because it cannot be deduced by judgement / feeling etc. By the way plant insurance companies have also relevance to this issue. So acceptable height of stockpile is likely to be known by many in the coal producing country.

Regards,

Ishwar G Mulani.

Author of Book : Engineering Science And Application Design For Belt Conveyors (new print November, 2012)

Author of Book : Belt Feeder Design And Hopper Bin Silo

Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.

Pune, India.

Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25871916

Email: conveyor.ishwar.mulani@gmail.com

Website: www.conveyor.ishwarmulani.com ■

Originally Posted by harryzhao

Hi ,you can use this kind of reclaimer and bridge stacker which attached ,then you don't need to consider the hight of the coal, and the length of stockpile is not very long.

This is bit off track but your photgraph reminds me of a Bedescchi type of machine which lost its way....as they sometimes do.

By the way: is a 4m stockpile worth building in the first place? Fifteen metres used to be normal in Europe.

Anyway, what happens when it gets chucked into the ship? Insurers will be more concerned with that I imagine. ■

Hello Ash Bhatnagar,

Some more information on the topic is as below:

If the spontaneous fire is noticed (by fumes) in mid-length of stockpile, usual bucket wheel on boom stacker reclaimer machine can only reach there by starting reclaiming from one end of stockpile length (long time activity), and then it cannot isolate fuming zone from rest of the stockpile. If it is only bucket wheel reclaimer, it can reclaim from other end of stockpile also but it will be also a long time activity. This means this type of machine will not be suitable for segregating burning zone from rest of the stockpile.

In such cases, side scraper type reclaimer can reclaim stockpile segment adjacent to both the sides of burning zone very quickly, allowing balance stockpile detached from the burning zone. The side scraper implies reclaiming operation from the face along the length. So it can be side scraper or portal type of scraper reclaimer machine.

Regards,

Ishwar G Mulani.

Author of Book : Engineering Science And Application Design For Belt Conveyors (new print November, 2012)

Author of Book : Belt Feeder Design And Hopper Bin Silo

Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.

Pune, India.

Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25871916

Email: conveyor.ishwar.mulani@gmail.com

Website: www.conveyor.ishwarmulani.com ■

Will be advisable to get all data as stated by various authors to optimize the stockpile height and length. Need to consider the self iginition property of the coal. As in stockplie there are possibility of fire. ■

.....and then some!

What was the eventual stockpile height?

Has it caught fire yet? ■

Originally Posted by johngateley

.....and then some!

What was the eventual stockpile height?

Has it caught fire yet?

There was a lot of deliberations on the subject earlier. Linking the same will answer many doubts.

Narayanan Nalinakshan. ■