ASH HANDLING PLANT

In a thermal power plant one of the biggest problems is ash handling

and ash disposal.40% of the total coal used gets converted into ashes after
combustion .So for the construction of a thermal power station three major
factors should be kept in mind for ash disposal. They are:1. Plant Site
2. Water Source
3. Environmental Regulation

Fig: Ash formation after combustion in furnace of steam

boiler.

The Ashes produced are divided into three categories .

ASH

Fly Ash
Dry Ash

Bottom Ash

An amount of 4% coal gets mixed with ash and we cannot

segregate that amount of unburnt coal .There are two systems by which is ash is
processed.

Wet System
Dry system

Wet System
In this system ashes from Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP),Bottom Ash Hopper
and Air-Preheater are mixed with water to form slurry.
The wet system consists of :1. Bottom Ash Area.
Bottom Ash Hopper: The bottom ash hopper resides just
below the furnace where the the unburnt coal (4%) and ash
gets deposited.

Fig: Bottom Ash Hopper

In this figure the function of line of refractive cooling is to cool down the hot
ash which is coming from the furnace after burning of coal.
The function of jetting line is to move the ash by the high velocity water jet.
The function of flush line is to remove the ash which remains unremoved
after jetting high velocity water.

Clinker Grinder:
A clinker grinder is a useful component in those ash conveying systems
where coarse bottom ash or other coarsely sized material must be reduced in
size so as to be suitable for pneumatic conveyance or other means of ash
handling.

Fig: Clinker Grinder

Hydro Ejector:
The function of Hydro Ejector is to eject a water jet through nozzle which
forces the ash-slurry to go into the sump.

Fig: Hydro Ejector

Over flow tank:

The function of over flow tank is to deposite the overflowing water from
sump.

Economiser pump:
The function of economiser pump is to convert fly ash to bottom ash of
economiser hopper.

Bottom Ash Overflow Pump:

When water in bottom ash hopper is increased then it goes to bottom
ash overflow pump through bottom ash overflow pump and then to sump.

2. Fly Ash Equipment Tower Area

Vacuum Breaker:
It resides just below the connecting tank. It acts as a safety device. It
protects the pipes from damage if vacuum is created it will draw ash and
pipes will choke so vacuum breaker is present to break the vacuum.
Wetting Unit:
It resides just above the collector tank near the ESP Here the fly ash
enters and high pressure water is forced to enter through 22 nozzles which
produces slurry.
Collector Tank:
It is present just below the wetting unit where the slurry gets collected
and from there it goes to sump.

Seal Box:
The function of seal box is to seal the air so that air does not enter the
economiser hopper.
If air enters then that air will be sucked by ID fans and it may enter the
economiser.

Air Washer:
The function of air washer is to prevent the vacuum pump from damage
by collecting ash and not letting the ash to go to the vacuum pump

Vaccum Pump:

This is the pup that creates vacuum to suck the ash.

3. Control Room Area

High Pressure Pump

Low Pressure Pump
Slurry Pump
Seal Pump
Compressor
Ash Water Pump
Common Trough
Drain Pumps
Collecting Units
Dry Units

4. Electrostatic Precipitator:

It is a device used to control the rate of pollution caused by the carbon

particles & ashes carried by the flue gas .It consists of two electrodes .The
flue gas is passed through the ESP on their way to chimney. Electric field is
produced across the electrodes. Due to the high voltage ( 50 KV-100 KV)
corona discharge takes place which ionises the carbon and ash particles.
They acquire negative charge and gets attracted towards the collecting
plate(positively charged).Thus migration of ionised particles take place
and deposition takes place on the collecting electrodes. After every fifteen
minutes the rapping hammer is hammered on the collecting plates which
dislodges the accumulated ashes and carbon particles.

Fig: Schematic of Electrostatic Precipitator

The ash gets deposited on the ESP hopper.From there it is removed for
disposal by vacum pump.

Fig: Electrostatic precipitator

DRY SYSTEM:
The dry system is only for dry ash. It is divided into two parts .

Baghouse
Baghouse is an air pollution control device that removes particulates
out of air or gas released from commercial processes or combustion for
electricity generation.

Unlike electrostatic precipitator, where performance may vary significantly

depending on process and electrical conditions, functioning baghouses typically have a particulate
collection efficiency of 99% or better, even when particle size is very small.