E.ON – Coal Dust Washdown System

Matrix PDM Engineering provided design engineering for the washdown of the coal feed system at E.ON’s Trimble County 514 MW generating station near Bedford, Kentucky. With the addition of a second boiler, the plant was being retrofitted to burn a mixture of Powder River Basin (PRB) coal. Since the accumulation of PRB coal dust is explosive, the plant decided to install a washdown coal system to prevent the buildup of coal dust.

The washdown system was designed as a zoned manual valve actuated system that utilizes “one turn” capability to thoroughly clean structural surfaces and equipment. Matrix PDM calculated the flow requirements and designed the system to include six different areas, including the tripper area, as-fired sample house, F conveyor closure, crusher house, as-delivered sample house and B to C transfer building. Each of the coal feed system buildings and equipment was separated into seperate zones.

The new system allows the operators to manually wash down each zone through a system of nozzles, and the entire area (walls, ceiling, floors, and equipment) can be washed down using an array of headers and risers. The final system met requirements to wash 100 percent of all surfaces that collect coal, with a removal of a minimum of 95 percent of all dust and fine particles less than one-eighth of an inch.