Power plant solves a burning coal-flow problem with bunker modifications
After funnel flow from a coal bunker results in stagnant coal that can spontaneously combust, a power plant installs new hoppers and flow-promoting liners.
Hopper railcars deliver coal to Northern States Power's [NSP's] two-unit, 384-megawatt Riverside plant in Minneapolis. A series of conveyors move the coal to a crusher and then to a storage bunker. Eventually, pressurized air blows the coal through ignitors into pressurized boilers.