EPRI Has Coal Flow Measurement and Control Laboratory

EPRI has created the Coal Flow Measurement and Control Laboratory. “The lab is the first full-scale, independent test facility in the U.S. capable of simulating and studying coal flow conditions in a variety of coal transport piping configurations and under controlled and known conditions,” said Jose Sanchez, a project engineer in EPRI’s boiler performance and NO_x control program. The 5000-square-foot lab is operated by Airflow Sciences Corp. and is located in Livonia, Michigan. Construction and operation of the lab are sponsored by EPRI and seven power producers.

To study the influences of elbows, pipe lengths and other disturbances, instruments can easily be installed, horizontally or vertically, in any of 23 locations. The lab can simulate pneumatic pulverized coal transport—for example, from a mill to burners—in various flow directions encountered in pulverized coal-fired power plants. The lab has capabilities for a line velocity of 10 to 120 ft/sec; a coal flow of 2000 to 20,000 lbs/hr; air/coal temperature to 180° F; better than 0.5 percent air flow measurement error; and 1.0 percent coal flow measurement error.

Initially, pipe sections with glass windows were inserted at various points in the loop to allow visual observation of particulate behavior and distribution using a ceramic particulate that simulated pulverized coal. Pulverized coal was loaded in the loop during summer 2004. The first phase of testing involves evaluation of several extractive technologies and five to eight online measurement systems.

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