Coal Handling
Coal to Electricity: Coal Handling
At a typical coal-fired power plant, the coal from the mine is typically delivered to the plant in large trucks or via rail, and dumped into the run-of-mine (ROM) hopper. Once at the plant, it is fed through a primary crusher and conveyed to a coal storage building. The coal storage building is used to "blend" coal from different parts of the mine to make it more consistent for burning.
From the coal storage building, the coal is crushed again and conveyed to smaller coal storage bunkers in the power plant. From there, the coal is fed to the pulverizers which grind it to a fine powder which is burned in the boiler.