Coal Mill
You actually cannot see our dust anywhere in the plant
Heat, dry and grind
The carbo-fuel production process seems simple, but it is extremely important to ensure the safety of the entire process. There are literally tons of dust produced, with a grind size of 90 micrometers. The giant mill grinds 40 tons of coal per hour, and we can process up to 180,000 tons of material. One pendulum alone weighs one ton. The strict production demands relate to the fact that this is a truly “heavy” industry. Carbo-fuel products are made from hard coal, which must be dried first. “If we started grinding coal when it arrives, it would not work; we would basically end up with a sludge,” says Labuzík. The reason is simple: coal contains about 10% water. So, the first stage is drying the coal. It is heated by gas burners to slightly over 100°C, which means water evaporates from the coal. This also creates an inert atmosphere. “CO2, which is produced by burning gas, displaces oxygen; its share in the atmosphere drops to about 15%,” says Labuzík. Another thing that helps keep the oxygen levels below 8% is the water vapor emitted from the coal. “But even that would not be enough, so we add water into the process, which evaporates, and thus we obtain the oxygen content below the desired limit,” explains Labuzík. The dried coal is first ground coarsely and then finely in a giant pendulum mill. A stream of inert gas that was created in the drying process separates the fine powder from the non-ground coal. The stream then carries the grains away from the grinding site, and they are separated in a cyclone and finish up in a silo, again full of inert gas. The product is then filled into tankers – truck or train – under careful supervision. A railway is located in the area, so the delivery of raw materials and the dispatch of products to customers can be done fully by train.
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