Application Update

Improving Coal Pulverizer Performance and Reliability

Introduction
Power generation industry studies have Coal Conveyer
shown that coal pulverizers are an area
where improved equipment reliability is
badly needed. The Electric Research Institute
(EPRI) has determined that 1% of plant Coal Crusher To Boiler Furnace
availability is lost on average due to pulverizer-
related problems.1 EPRI also identified oil
contamination and excessive leakage as two Raw Coal
Bunker
areas where pulverizer drive train failures
account for 53% of pulverizer problems.
Exhauster
Raw Coal
Description Feeder
Pulverization is currently the favored
method of preparing coal for burning.
Mechanically pulverizing coal into a fine
Hot Air
powder enables it to be burned like a gas,
thus allowing more efficient combustion. Motor
Transported by an air or an air/gas mixture, Coal Pulverizer
pulverized coal can be introduced directly
into the boiler for combustion.
Figure 1: Simplified diagram detailing a
direct-fired coal burning system.
There are several pieces of equipment
involved in processing coal to be burned in
this fashion. Figure 1 is a simplified diagram
detailing this equipment in a direct-fired
coal burning system.

Combustion Engineering, Babcock &

Wilcox, and Riley Stoker Corp. are major
manufacturers of coal pulverizing equipment.
The four most common types of coal
pulverizers are:

Ball-Tube Mills
This type of mill consists of a rotating tube
filled with cast alloy balls. Coal is introduced
through two hollow trunnions on each side
of the tube. As the tube rotates, the balls tumble
onto the coal, crushing and pulverizing it.

Impact Mills
Grinding Action is carried out by a series of
hinged or fixed hammers revolving in an

1 EPRI study on large coal fired utility boilers (greater

than 600MW) using pulverizers with capacities Combustion Engineering 783RP Bowl-Mill Coal
greater than 50 tons per hour Pulverizer.
 Figure 3 shows a cut-away of a Ring-Roll
type coal pulverizer. In this design the grinding
rolls are stationary, while the ring (or bowl,
as it is sometimes called) is rotated by a
worm gear drive. Powerful springs force the
grinding rolls against the ring, providing the
pressure required to pulverize the coal.

Raw coal enters the top of the pulverizer

through the raw coal feed pipe. The raw
coal is then pulverized between the roll and
rotating ring. Hot air is forced in through the
bottom of the pulverizing chamber to remove
unwanted moisture and transport the coal
dust up through the top of the pulverizer
and out the exhaust pipe directly to the
burner. Coal that has not been pulverized
into fine enough particles cannot be blown
out of the top of the unit; it falls back to the
ring and roll to be further pulverized.

Contamination Ingression
The gears and bearings in the gearbox are
oil lubricated. Fine coal particles and wear
Figure 2. Babcock and Wilcox MPS cutaway view. metals from grinding surfaces enter the lube
oil through worn bearing and shaft seals, as
enclosed chamber with wear resistant plates. well as being “inhaled” through reservoir
The hammers impact on the coal, crushing it vents. Historically, the design of pulverizers
against the plates. Further pulverization is has been based on the expectation of few
achieved as the smaller coal particles are drive system problems under prescribed
ground through attrition against each other operation and maintenance. In practice, this
and the grinding face. has often been found not to be true.

Vertical Roller Mills OEM Supplied Filtration

This mill uses hydraulically loaded vertical Many coal pulverizer designs do not
rollers resembling large tires to pulverize raw incorporate any filtration in their lube circuits.
coal fed down onto a rotating table. As the The pulverizers that do not incorporate
table rotates, the raw coal is pulverized as it filtration use coarse filtration such as 40-micron
passes underneath the rollers. Hot air forced cleanable mesh or 200-micron cleanable,
through the bottom of the pulverizing cham- stacked disk filters. Such OEM-supplied
ber removes unwanted moisture and trans- filtration is often unable to keep up with the
ports the pulverized coal dust up through the inherently high ingression rate. This results
top of the pulverizer and out the exhaust in contamination levels often exceeding ISO
pipes directly to the burner. The more recent code 30/30, particularly on older designs.
coal pulverizer designs are Vertical Roller This high level of contamination can severely
Mills. Figure 2 shows a cutaway view of a diminish bearing, gear, pump, and seal life,
Babcock and Wilcox MPS Pulverizer. leading to premature need for replacement
or rework. Coal pulverizer downtime can be
Ring-Roll and Ball-Race Mills a major factor in reducing overall plant
A ball or roller between two races or rings availability and reliability.
provides the grinding surfaces on which
pulverization occurs. One or both of the Recommended Filtration Upgrade to
races may rotate against a ball or roll (in a Achieve Total Cleanliness Control
Ring-Roll Mill the rolls may rotate while the (See diagrams on back page)
ring is stationary). Ring-Roll (Bowl-Mill) and The majority of pulverized coal particles are
Ball-Race Mills comprise the majority of coal in the 4-30µm range, with 70% of these par-
pulverizers currently in service at power ticles smaller than 10µm. Ingression rates
generating facilities. vary with manufacturer, model, and age of

2
unit, with older units usually admitting con- of gear lube oil (2,200 SUS at operating
taminants faster than newer ones. Particulate temperature) along with the inherently rapid
contamination in the lube system can result ingression rate usually associated with these
in rapid damage to critical components. units makes it necessary in most cases to
utilize at least one UR619 housing with a
In order to protect the coal pulverizer lube UE619 element (ß12(c)≥ 1000 or finer) for
system components, Pall recommends every 50 gpm of flow to provide superior
maintaining a fluid cleanliness level of ISO filtration with long element life. Since the
16/13 or better. This can be accomplished pulverizers come on- and off-line, it is
through the use of Ultipleat® SRT AS grade important to size the system for the oil
(ß12(c)≥ 1000) or finer filters. Ultipleat SRT viscosity at the coldest possible ambient
filters, with their high particle removal plant temperatures. Line diameters in the
efficiency and dirt-holding capacity, are ideally kidney loop should be large enough to
suited to cost-effectively control contamination facilitate flow of highly viscous lube oil.
in this high-ingression application.
Other applications where Pall high-performance
When upgrading in-line filtration, a Pall filtration is useful include coal-carrying cars and
Duplex Assembly is recommended so that conveyor belts. Many of these applications
elements can be changed out while the have both hydraulic and lube systems that
pulverizer is operating. Although putting are vulnerable to coal dust contamination.
filtration in-line is preferred, difficulty in This equipment is required to transport the
getting system specifications from the OEM, coal stored on-site to the coal pulverizers.
combined with the typically low pump Because this equipment is essential to the
pressure associated with this application,
may make kidney loop filtration a more
viable alternative. Reservoir volumes
typically vary from 15-300 gallons.

A 20% reservoir volume per minute flow

through a kidney loop is generally sufficient
to overcome the ingression rate of most
applications. The high-viscosity

View inside a
Bowl-Mill pulverizing
Exhaust Pipe chamber

Pressure Spring

Raw Coal Feed Pipe

Air Intake

Grinding Roll
Ring or Bowl

Bearing

Worm Gear Worm Drive

Bearing

Figure 3. Ring-Roll pulverizer: cutaway view.

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 Filtration Upgrade Recommendations

Option A (preferred) Option A Option B

Replace OEM supplied in-line
filtration with a Pall Duplex
Filter Assembly using
ß12 (c)≥1000 Ultipor III element.
Note: Make sure that
lubrication pump pressure is
sufficient to provide adequate
flow to lubrication nozzles
when filter element is plugged.

Option B
Install a kidney loop with Pall
ß12 (c)≥1000 filtration on each
pulverizer. Flow through the
kidney loop should be
approximately 20% of the
reservoir volume per minute-
i.e. If reservoir volume is 250
gallons, then kidney loop flow
should be 50 gpm.

operation of the power plant, it is critical predictive/preventive maintenance practices

that this equipment be free from and poor oil cleanliness.
contamination-related failure.
Pall provided a filter housing for a six-
Case Study month trial to show that oil cleanliness
In March 2003, a major Canadian utility could be improved to industry standards
derated its Unit 4 due to a failure of the B and maintained without the incurrence of
mill. The mill was expected to be out of substantial element costs. Oil cleanliness
service for about a month. With lost production went from 20/19/17 to 18/16/13 in
of approximately 864 MWh per day, the approximately 2 hours and has been
total estimated revenue loss was around maintained at this level since.
$2,000,000. Repair costs for this outage
added up to more than $400,000 due to the After the six-month trial, the power plant
severity of the damage to drive train components. installed one assembly on each of the 30
An analysis concluded that there were multi- pulverizers in its facility. The plant currently
ple causes of this problem, including poor changes elements once a year.

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