CCC Group Inc., an industrial contractor and specialty engineering provider with headquarters in San Antonio, has announced the successful design and replacement of a 6000-tph PRB coal transfer chute with new passive dust control technology, the Smart Chute transfer system with air restrictors (patent pending).
      
Due to PRB coal being delivered by barge to the plant, the passive dust control system had to handle a large variation in material volumes, from 2500 to 6000 tph, as well as varying moisture content. As additional challenges, the head chute design had to retain an existing magnetic separator and the entire project had to be executed under an extremely compressed project schedule of less than three months to complete conception, engineering, fabrication, and installation.

The CCC Group design team incorporated Smart Chute transfer system technology through the use of air restrictor gates that automatically self adjust to material capacity variations. The air restrictors cut off the pathway of the induced airflow by closing the gap between the material stream and the chute wall. This design restricts the induced airflow directly, stopping the air from rushing through the transfer chute without interrupting or decelerating the flow of material. Discrete Element Modeling (DEM) was used to create sophisticated three-dimensional models to simulate smooth coal flow and center loading for varying material volumes.   
      
CCC Group returned the system to operations safe, on schedule, and on budget. Over several days, dust level readings were taken in multiple locations and all were well below required limits of 2.0 mg/cu m.

For more information about CCC Group Engineering & Design Division and this successful project, visit www.cccgroupinc.com.