There are may good books on the subject of coal transportation;

But unfortunately the problem is there is no one fits all solution or scenario.

Friable coal runs from sub lignite to anthracite dust so its fire potential is essentially limitless so we will get that out of the way first.

Coal will spontaneosly combust period:

Cleanliness and looking for hotspots is always warranted period.

Coal in piles will spontaneosly combust period.

fire suppression should not be an after thought period.

Asking what the best method for transport of coal is like asking for corn bread or hush puppies, its all the same, you want to move material from A to B.

It all depends on how deep your pocketbook is as far as desired or potential transport methods.

One hundred percent of your question entails what and how much you want to move and that determines the transport method you think you will need or what someone wants to sell you and what is available to move material from A to B.

What ever you decide to use you have to live with.

Not knowing the desired method is the other problem:

You can move just about anything anywhere if you have the money- this is along the lines of selling refridgerators to eskimos because you do not know what you want or need and you have to decide what method to use which will relate to actual conditions and funding.

The longer the distance the more justified handling in bulk becomes.

With any large transport system whether it is by rail, truck, conveyors, barge etc. it requires labor and handling and equipment and this is where the total distance and terrain is the overiding factor

And all of the above cost money because they require huge amounts of infrastucture for canals, roads, rails, conveyor belt, electricity, diesel fuel and labor.

It all depends of the present value of the dollar, life cycle costing, and opportunity cost.

Any movement over two miles in length is an excellent candidate for a capsule pipeline provided it has a minimum of 100,000 tons per year of tonnage needed to be moved from A to B and it uses low pressure air from 1 to 5 psi to move the capsule trains from A to B and back and can generate electricity as well on the return leg with synchronus motors.

A capsule pipeline is something that can be set on the ground and it is perfectly safe, requires only one employee per million tons of material moved and can be flooded with CO2 to reduce the possibility of spontaneos combustion of coal products while in transit.

The return is faster because you are saving money on labor and fuel and wear and tear and it will run around the clock in all weather without human intervention, just think about a pipeline handling fuels, oils, water, and gasses does all the time everytime.

links: <www.capsu.org> this will take you to an existing capsule pipeline that has been moving limestone for 24 years in japan-it replaced a railroad.

Google (Karasawa mine) and it will take you there directly.

Google <www.pnuetrans.net>

Other members on the board will offer their thoughts as well and I do not wish to stir up a hornets nest with my opinion. ■

No matter the methods of movement/transport spontaneos combustion is possible but liberal use of water will reduce it to a minimum, the wetter the better. A lot of folks use mineral oil in a dilute solution to reduce dust as well as it will stick to the coal longer with reduced evaporation.

A lot of folks use water at transfer points to reduce dust and contain it or wet it down on the conveyor when it is underground.

Over here in the colonies we have exposed piles of soft bituminous coal outside of power plants exposed to weather year round with lots of rain and snow.

If you have the water do not hesitate to use it even if it is saline as it is your first defense.

Using dozers/wheel loaders with plow blades and trucks is not out of the question at all.

Spraying the coal with water is a good way to reduce the combustable nature and its a little messier but gives more piece of mind and it will take more energy to burn/dry it but adding water to the coal piles is a minor thing in relation spontaneos combution in the climate of Indonesia.

Any method transport will work it is just a matter of house keeping and vigilance for fire as piles of coal dust are a situation which is asking for trouble.

I am assuming you have lignite or sub bituminous so actually the more the degradation the better the burn in the boiler.

places to look

Coal Age Magazine.

Enginering and Mining Journal

Mine Safety and Health Administration.

National Fire Underwriters-USA

Lloyds of London

COAL MAGAZINE

COAL PREPARATION MAGAZINE

MINING JOURNAL

Hope this helps

lzaharis ■

Hispano-Suiza used to offer a suitcase sized gas turbine to generate inert gas to purge oil tankers. Following on it should be possible for some enterprising rail operator to devise a system to pipe cooled diesel fumes over the following train of coal.

Also a dumper manufacturer in the SW of England used to make an exhaust heated tipper body for cold weather conditions. CO2 is dearer than exhaust fumes. There are plenty of the latter in Indonesia but they appear to have more carbon content than any known coal! ■

i learned so much from you~

www.cementchina.net ■

Belt conveying is a great way to move self-combusting coal. To control spontaneous combustion:

1.) In storage use mobile machinery to compact the material to suffucate it. Where fire starts move the burning material out and re-compact the area.

2.) In transport keep the material moving, cleanly thru the transfers without build-up in pockets or spillage.

Joseph A. Dos Santos ■