Environmental equipment

(environmental section of power plant)    Return to How a coal-fired power plant generates electricity.

(13) Fans
Fans are used to discharge the exhaust through the stack.

(14) Electrostatic precipitators
Combustion gases pass through huge electrostatic precipitators. They remove more than 99% of the fly ash (fine dust particles) from the gases before they leave the stack.

(15) Ash silo
Ash is collected in the ash silo. From there the fly ash is then taken to a landfill on the plant site, where it’s covered with topsoil and reseeded with grasses native to the area.

(16) Stack
A 498-foot stack disperses the remaining combustion gases over a wide area. The large white plume visible in winter months is created by the high moisture content of the coal.

(17) Continuous emission monitors
Just inside the stack is a $300,000 continuous emissions monitoring system. The data it provides is essential to ensuring that emission levels meet Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Areas of power plant:

Fuel handling
(1) Rotary dumper
(2) Storage building
(3) Alternate fuel-handling facility
(4) Transfer house
Furnace
(5) Silos
(6) Cyclone furnaces
(7) Boiler furnace
(8) Forced-draft fans
Electric generation
(9) Turbine
(10) Generator
Electric transmission
(11) Transformer
(12) Substation
Environmental equipment
(13) Fans
(14) Precipitator
(15) Ash silo
(16) Stack
(17) Emission monitors
Water handling
(18) Cooling pond
(19) Condenser
(20) Brine concentrator

Return to How a coal-fired power plant generates electricity.