EDF Power Station in Blénod, France:
KOCH Pipe Conveyor Provides Ecologically Friendly Coal Transport
More and more, communities living near power stations complain about trucks carrying coal to the plant: At EDF`s plant in Blénod, France, a KOCH Pipe Conveyor has solved this problem. Instead of delivering the coal for the 4x250 MW power station in 100 daily truck transports, the fuel is hauled directly by an enclosed system stretching from the unloading point to the coal stockpile.
The KOCH Pipe Conveyor picks up the coal at the unloading dock on the Mosel River. The belt closes immediately after the material feeding point, and remains tightly shut throughout the entire transport. Along the 1.2 km route, the conveyor line cleaves closely to the land: It curves gently along the course of the Mosel River, springs over wetlands, a public road and a railroad system until it reaches the power station – without needing a single transfer point. At the wetlands, the posts are some 40 m apart to minimize the impact on the natural habitat. Nor did the Pipe Conveyor experience any difficulties in crossing the road at a height of 5.50 m, or in soaring over a 30 m high silo to reach the discharge point.
Every hour, the KOCH Pipe Conveyor transports up to 600 metric tons of coal from the unloading dock to the power plant – that`s 700,000 metric tons per year. The other components in the system are a storage bunker and a bunker discharge belt.
