Dense-phase conveying system moves coal without particle degradation and dusting
When dilute-phase pneumatic conveying degraded fuel coal for boilers and emitted dust at outdoor stockpiles, a nuclear weapons waste-recovery facility installed a discontinuous dense-phase pneumatic conveying system.
The US Department of Energy's Hanford site, Richland, Wash., is a nuclear weapons waste-recovery facility. The facility uses three rotary-grate coal-fired boilers fueled by wet and dry lump coal up to 2 1/2 inches across. Hopper railcars deliver the coal, which discharges into railcar track hoppers beneath the tracks before the facility pneumatically conveys the coal to three service bunkers above the boilers and to outdoor stockpiles.