Coal Combustion Services
Coal Quality and Combustion Consulting
If you're having coal quality related issues, we can help!
CCI offers several different types of services to help the power industry better understand coal quality, as well as the operation and performance of coal-fired steam plants. Fuel quality and the combustion process directly impacts major cost like handling emmissions, wear and ash deposits.
Fuel Switching and Test BurnsFuel Switching
Coal quality characteristics vary depending on rank as well as the seam location. A "simple" change from a high ranking coal to a low rank coal can have numerous impacts on your boiler and pollution control systems. At Coal Combustion, we understand these variances and how to minimize the effects on your company.
Measuring Quality
You have to measure coal quality or you
can’t control it. Coal is one of the hardest materials to sample and
test.
Use these ideas to assist in coal quality testing:
Inspection of quality system before and during contract
Test for the right parameters using useful units
Trend, track
and maintain contract performance charts and parameters.
Partial List of our test burn customers:
PPL Montana, Cline Resouces, Mirant, Spring Creek Mine, Portland General Electric, Dominion, Exelon, PSE&G, Santee Cooper, East Kentucky Power COOP, LG&E Energy, Orlando MU
Slag and Ash Consulting
If your boiler runs on coal, we can help maximize your efficiency. Fuel quality and the combustion process directly impact major costs like wear, slag, ash deposits, pluggages and tube leaks. When your system is calibrated at optimal settings these expensive problems can be avoided.
SEM Microscopy
Slag forms when the low melting clays and rocks react to bond together the fly ash and other higher melting minerals, like sandstone. Microscopic tests, both light and electron (scanning electron microscope, SEM), provide information about the bonding material: the glue that is holding the deposit together. This information then determines how to change coal specifications or make operational changes that can reduce the slagging problems. Microscopic tests also work well with fouling, and other deposits found around the power plant.
International Services
Rod speaks the international language of science and math! CCI covers the world with our technical consulting and training services. We have taught classes, marketed fuels, and consulted on slagging issues. We have performed services in the following countries: Thailand, Malaysia. Vietnam, Netherlands, Dominican Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Canada. We look forward to visiting you in your country someday.
Expert Witness
Mr. Hatt is a well-received expert because of his professor like nature and his ability to explain hard to understand chemical properties and reactions to almost everyone. Listed below are a few example projects:
Mr. Hatt was hired as a combustion expert
by a boiler manufacturer during the initial construction of a
fluidized bed plant. They were having issues due to large particle
sizes. The problem was resolved without Rod needing to testify in
court.
Worked as an expert witness for a coal
mining company when they had a fuel quality dispute over hard grove
grindability index. With his help that Rod was able to help resolve.
Represented a utility company over fuel
choice selection in a dispute with the Florida Public Service
Commission. Rod gave a deposition and testimony in this case and the
settlement went in the utilities favor.
During the initial construction of a
fluidized bed boiler, the utility company sued the contractor over
deposit issues. Mr. Hatt represented the contractor during
arbitration and provided a deposition and testimony. The settlement
was in the contractors favor.
A utility company was having a fuel
quality dispute over performance fuel for a newly constructed
fluidized bed boiler. Rod was able to serve as an expert witness by
providing a deposition and testimony in Federal Court, which led to
the utility company winning the decision.
Archaeology
Sample Analysis
The Center for Coal and Archaeology is a part of Coal
Combustion, Inc. that treats coal and slag samples as a human
artifacts. Cooking, heat, blacksmithing, smelting, coking, power,
all involved fuels like wood and coal. Coal is mined, transported,
sold and consumed on a world wide bases. There is potentially a
historical record of many coal transactions taxed at ports. This
historical record with archaeologically derived samples could lead
to additional knowledge of human interactions.
We obtain most
of our coal samples from underwater ships. The coal is well
preserved under water as oxidation degrades coal. Our goal is to
expand our data base of known coal samples and analyses specific to
a time and/or place. In the US, coal type changes over time as the
railroads progressed up the mountains. Economics and utilization
could influence coal type. Knowing where a coal is from might help
determine when it was mined.
Slag samples can come from both
marine and terrestrial sites. Old forts and settlements would leave
ashes and slags. Early metal industry smelters and foundries leave
slags behind. Sometimes the minerals in slags can indicate a
temperature that could be particular to a type of process or
combustion technology. Maybe slag analyses can help archaeologist
tell more of the human story. You never know where slag will show
up, a famous Lake Michigan iron ore and charcoal slag from the
1880's is called Lelandite.
We fund our projects from
industry donation of time, analysis, and money. Sometimes the
archeologist have money for analyses. We hope to be able to add to
our data base from multiple sources.
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Contact Us Today - 859.873.0188
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