EFFECT OF SURFACE MOISTURE IN COAL

ON UNIT HEAT RATE AND OPERATING

COSTS FOR INDIAN THERMAL POWER
PLANTS.

Aditya N Mishra
ED Projects & Coal Logistics
WHATEVER GETS MEASURED
GETS MANAGED

Aditya N Mishra
ED Projects & Coal Logistics
 INTRODUCTION
• The installed capacity of the country is ~334 GW out of
which ~194 GW is the share of coal based power
generation (~ 58 %).

• Coal is contributing to ~ 1.5 % of the GDP as it is the

main energy source for power generation.

• Nearly 60 % of the coal is transported from the mine to

the power plant through Indian railways, 25 % through
trucks and the balance 15 % through dedicated transfer
systems such as merry-go-round-systems
 INTRODUCTION
• Indian coal
• Gross Calorific Values (GCV) in the range of 2300-4500
Kcal/kg.
• Being of the drift origin are of high ash contents (25-50%)
• Sulphur (< 0.6 %) is not a problem except in very few specific
mines.

• Coal utilization efficiency (before it is used in the boilers,

i.e., from mills till bunkers) is in the range of 80-98 %.

• The non-chemically reactive ingredients in coal results in the3

drop in GCV (ash and moisture).
 COAL QUALITY
• Due to the open cast mining process, besides the inherent ash
the extraneous mineral matter (clay, sand and stones generally
referred as mud) also gets mixed up with the coal is
called as extraneous ash.

• It is not ash, techno commercially it is called as extraneous ash

because it is an incombustible component.

• Extraneous mineral matter can be removed through washing

processes typically the run of mine jig wet washing process.
Inherent ash cannot be removed except by complex and cost
chemical methods in small sample sizes at the laboratory
scale.
 COAL QUALITY
• Moisture in coal consists of inherent moisture (IM) and surface
moisture (SM). Then total moisture (TM) is a sum of IM and SM.

• Equilibrated Moisture means the moisture content, as

determined after equilibrating at 60% relative humidity(RH) and
40 ºC as per the relevant provisions (relating to determination of
equilibrated moisture at 60% RH and 40 degree Celsius) of BIS
1350 of 1959).

[GCV]Eq = [GCV]TM_________
[100 - % Eq Moisture] [100 - % Total Moisture]

• Surface moisture is the difference between total moisture 5

and inherent moisture and is also called as excess
moisture (EM).
COST OF COAL (Rs./1000KCal) AS PER COAL
INDIA PRICES
GROSS CALORIFIC VALUE, RUN OF COST OF
KCal/kg MINE COAL HEAT (FOB),
GRADE OF PRICE, Rs./1000KCal
COAL MIN MAX MEAN Rs./t

G1 7000 7000 3600 0.514

G2 6700 7000 6850 3450 0.503

G3 6400 6700 6550 3210 0.490
G4 6100 6400 6250 3000 0.480
G5 5800 6100 5950 2750 0.461

G6 5500 5800 5650 1900 0.336

G7 5200 5500 5350 1600 0.299 7

G8 4900 5200 5050 1420 0.336

 RUN OF
GROSS CALORIFIC VALUE, MINE COST OF
KCal/kg COAL HEAT(FOB),
PRICE, Rs./1000KCal
GRADE OF
Rs./t
COAL MIN MAX MEAN

G9 4600 4900 4750 1100 0.231

G10 4300 4600 4450 980 0.220
G11 4000 4300 4150 810 0.195
G12 3700 4000 3850 760 0.197
G13 3400 3700 3550 720 0.202
G14 3100 3400 3250 650 0.200
G15 2800 3100 2950 600 0.203
G16 2500 2800 2650 530 0.200
G17 2200 2500 2350 470 0.200
 EFFECT ON COAL MOVEMENT AND
HANDLING IN THE COAL YARD
• IM - affects the coal combustion process,
• SM - gives rise to difficulties in handling (transfer and flow ability)
of coal with severe capacity reduction of all equipment in the
coal plant ranging from crushers to conveyors.
• Units tripping on mill choke up, load hunting due to insufficient
flow from bunkers, raw coal feeder jam, etc., are quite common
during this period.

• Even though the bunker level may be full, only 30 % of the

bunker capacity can be utilized due to bonding of coal at the
bunker periphery and flow is only through rathole in the bunker
center.
 DROP IN GCV OF COAL FOR 1 %
MOISTURE INCREASE

04-02-2015
60
Drop in GCV (kcal/kg) for 1 % moisture

y = 0.01x + 6.1
55

50

45

40

35

30
3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 10
Calorific value (kcal/kg)
 CORRELATION BETWEEN SURFACE
MOISTURE
AND EQUILIBRATED MOISTURE IN MINED
COAL
14
y = -0.827x + 11.927
12
Surface Moisture (%)

10
8
6
4
2
0
5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10
Equilibriated Moisture (%)
 CORRELATION BETWEEN TOTAL MOISTURE AND
EQUILIBRATED MOISTURE IN MINED COAL

20

18
Total Moisture (%)

16

14

12

10
y = 0.173x + 11.927
8
5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10
Equilibriated Moisture (%)
 BASIS FOR SALE OF COAL
• In the case of indigenous coals - the heating value for
commercial purposes is based on equilibratedMoisture.

• Surface moisture does not get accounted in the

costing.

• TPS must insist for coal costing considering TM at

mining point.

• SM addition en-route to TPS and in coal yard must be

borne by user. 20
 EFFECTS OF MOISTURE IN COAL ON
POWER STATION PERFORMANCE
83.5

83.0
Boiler efficiency, %

82.5

82.0

81.5

81.0 y = -0.0202x2 + 0.3588x + 81.879

R² = 0.9812
80.5
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 23
Moisture content, %
 INCREASE IN UNIT HEAT RATE DUE TO
INCREASED MOISTURE
2660
y = 0.6319x2 - 11.562x + 2628.6
2650 R² = 0.9277
Unit Heat Rate. kcal/kWh

2640
2630
2620
2610
2600
2590
2580
2570
10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Moisture content, %
 COST SENSITIVITY OF MOISTURE IN COAL

• Indian coal
• The fuel supply agreements for Indian coals do not have
any provision for accounting the effect of total moisture.
• Only equilibrated moisture (IM) gets factored in the pricing.
• SM > 7% during the months from October to May and > 9%
during the months from June to September, the coal
quantities shall be calculated in percentage by which the
surface moisture exceeds the foregoing limits.
• This corresponds to a TM of approximately 12 % in summer
and 14 % in rainy season which rarely happens.
On this account Indian coal costs do not show sensitivity to
total moisture as indicated in the following figures.
 COST SENSITIVITY OF MOISTURE IN
INDIGENOUS COAL
1600

1400 y = 4.7112x + 844.65

Indigenous coal price, Rs./Kcal

R² = 0.031
1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0
0 5 10 15 20 26
Total Moisture, %
 SENSITIVITY OF INDIAN COAL PRICE (Rs./t)
TO TOTAL MOISTURE
4900

4700 y = -16.121x + 4442

R² = 0.0929
Indian coal price, Rs./t

4500

4300

4100

3900

3700

3500
0 5 10 15 20 27
Total Moisture, %
SENSITIVITY OF INDIAN COAL PRICE (Rs./t) TO TOTAL
MOISTURE IF THE MOISTURE EFFECT IS CONSIDERED

4400
4350
4300
4250
Coal cost, Rs./t

4200
4150
4100 y = -43.38x + 4556.2
4050
4000
3950
3900
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 28
Total Moisture, %
 SENSITIVITY OF INDIAN COAL PRICE (RS./KCal) TO
TOTAL MOISTURE IF MOISTURE EFFECT IS CONSIDERED
880
870
860
850
Coal cost, Rs./KCal

840
830
820 y = -9.7836x + 921.21
810
800
790
780
770
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Total Moisture, %
 COST SENSITIVITY OF IMPORTED COALS TO
MOISTURE
5500
5000
Imported coal price, Rs./MT

4500
4000 y = -90.488x + 5702.7
3500 R² = 0.8939

3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 30
Total moisture, %
 COST SENSITIVITY OF IMPORTED COALS TO
MOISTURE
900
y = -0.2174x2 + 3.5573x + 730.98
Imported coal price, Rs./GCal

800 R² = 0.6839

700

600

500

400

300
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 31
Total moisture, %
 COST SENSITIVITY OF COALS TO
GENERATION COST AND FUEL COST
Sl. Particular Design/ Units Value
No. operating
01 Boiler efficiency Design % per 1 % -0.123
increase in
02 Boiler efficiency Operating -0.270
moisture
03 Unit heat rate Design kcal/kWh per 1 % 3.1
increase in
04 Unit heat rate Operating 8.2
moisture
05 Impact on cost of energy Design Rs./kWh 0.010
generated due to decreased
performance of boiler
06 Impact on cost of energy Operating Rs./kWh 0.015
generated due to decreased
performance of boiler
07 Impact on cost of energy Design Rs./kWh 0.36
generation due to lower
purchase price of high
moisture coal
08 Impact on cost of energy Operating Rs./kWh 0.38 32
generation due to lower
purchase price of high
moisture coal
 CONCLUSIONS
• Moisture in coal has a negative impact on the energy performance
and all efforts are required from the mine till the coal is fired
into the boilers, to ensure that moisture does not get added to
the coal and its heating value is preserved.

• If the boilers are designed for operating on high moisture coals,

the high moisture imported coals can be successfully fired in an
economical fashion as the open market price of coals with higher
moisture will be lower than coals with lower moisture.
 CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
• The overall cost of generation will be lower for coals with
higher moisture contents

• The increased generation cost due to lower boiler efficiency and

unit overall efficiency (Rs. 0.015/kWh) will be completely
offset by the component due to decreased purchase price of
higher moisture coals (Rs. 0.38/kWh). Therefore, for imported
coals the economics is in favor of operating on higher moisture
coals based on the coal pricing.

• In the case of indigenous coals, the heating value for

commercial purposes is based on equilibrated moisture
which is equivalent to inherent moisture and the total
.moisture does not get reflected in the commercial heating value.
 CONCLUSIONS
• In other words, surface moisture does not get accounted in the
costing.

• However, in the case of both imported coals and indigenous coals,

addition of surface moisture or moisture addition/deterioration in
heating value in the coal yard of the power plant is to the account
of the user and must be minimized.

• Besides just the heating value the difficulties in flow ability,

crushing, pulverizing and injection of coal into the furnace of the
boiler present operational problems which affect loadability.

• The impact of 1% moisture on unite heat rate is 8-9 kcal/kWh.

Transit Loss
 Transit Loss
• Transit loss is the difference between quantity of coal
dispatched from the mines and quantity of coal received
by stations.

• CERC Tariff Regulations provided normative transit and

handling loss of 0.8 and 0.2 percent for non-pithead
stations and pithead stations respectively.

• Transit losses up to this extent can be recovered through

tariff and any loss beyond this limit was to be borne by
the station.
 Analysis of Transit Loss
RR Weight (MT) 46,68,023
Receipt at Plant (MT) 45,65,756
Transit Loss (MT) 1,02,267
Cost of Coal lost in Transit @ Rs 4600/MT
(in Crs ) 47
Normative Transit Loss as per CERC 0.80%
Qty realised from UPPCL as per CERC (MT) 37344
Cost of coal realised from Procurer (in Crs ) 17
Cost of Unrealised Transit Loss (in Crs ) 30
Suggestion :
With so many insurance coverage available for Transit Loss , we may think of
procuring one of them as with every Rs 100 difference, VC will change to the
tune of 6 paisa/kWh.
Impact of Overloading
and Under loading
 Penalties for overloading and under loading.
As per Indian railways the permissible loading limit of wagon is 70 MT,
which means 4060 MT (58 wagons x 70 MT).

• The punitive charges for overloading are the charges, which are
imposed by Indian railways for overloading the wagon. The charges
are recovered in 2 parts:
a. Aggregated Payload doesn’t exceed the combined permissible capacity
Extent of overloading when weight
exceed the permissible carrying Punitive Charges
capacity of wagon
up to one tonne Nil
By more than one tonne but not more Two times of the freight
than four tonnes applicable on the commodity
Three times the freight rate
By more than four tonnes applicable on the highest
class.
b. Aggregated Payload exceeds the combined permissible capacity

Extent of overloading when weight

exceed the permissible carrying
capacity of wagon
Up to one tonne
By more than one tonne but not
more than four tonnes
By more than four tonnes
Punitive Charges
Nil
Three times of the freight
applicable on the commodity
Five times the freight rate
applicable on the highest
class.

Loss due to under loading:

• Under this, we are paying for Maximum permissible carrying capacity but
bringing less coal , thus increasing the landed cost of coal.

• In FY 2017-18 , up till now , Penalty for overloading/Unloading to the tune

of Rs 67/MT has been paid which means variable cost has increased by
4-5 paisa/kWh ( approx. )