Читать книгу Coal-Fired Power Generation Handbook - James Speight G., James G. Speight - Страница 84

Coal-carrying vehicles are typically end-dump trucks with a carrying capacity of roughly 25 to 50 tons. Truck delivery is used extensively for small power plants in the eastern United States.

Coal can be moved by truck over regular highways in vehicles with 15 to 30 tons capacity. Coal can also be transported by large off-road trucks with capacities ranging from 100 to 200 net tons. These trucks are almost always diesel-powered with back or bottom dump.

Specially constructed roads for coal hauling are extensively used for mine-mouth power plants in the west, south, and east, while the hauling of coal by trucks on highways is more concentrated at surface mines. Truck hauls on public highways in the United States typically range from approximately 50 to 75 miles while off-road hauls are approximately 5 to 20 miles.

Trucks are the most versatile of all transportation modes for coal hauling because they can operate over the widest areas where roads are available.

However, adverse environmental impacts resulting from truck coal hauling are coal dust particle releases during coal loading or unloading, and coal dust entrainment during transport. Some coal will escape from the trucks during transport because the loads are normally uncovered. The coal dust tends to wash off roadways during rainstorms, causing aesthetic unsightliness and contamination of runoff waters. The air pollutant emissions from diesel fuel combustion add to the emissions.