POWER May 2010 - 52

PLANT SAFETY
ing the incident and inspect the system. The
manufacturer later sent a team of engineers to
inspect the system.
Proposed Corrective Actions. The investigation
team determined that airflow
was out of balance, which caused some
coal dust, over time, to drop out of the airflow
in the two elbows. Most likely, sparks
from the smoldering coal dust in the elbows
were drawn into the operating dust collector.
Some modifications were required to
ensure that differential pressure across the
dust collector bags was maintained at the
proper level.
The following corrective actions were
suggested by the investigation team in order
to prevent similar incidents from happening
in the future:
■ Allowing more time for the air purge cycle.
■ Changing one stationary hood duct from
23 inches to 12 inches.
■ Installing clean-out ports or removing certain
elbows periodically for inspection of
dust buildup as part of a predictive maintenance
(PM) program.
■ Replacing some butterfly valves in ducts
because one was missing and others did
not operate properly.
■ Using a thermal imaging camera as part of
normal inspection of this area, especially
the ducts.
Cook Coal Terminal's Fire
Bob Taylor, with American Electric Power's
(AEP) environmental, safety, and health organization,
and Dennis Kovach, an engineer
with AEP's fire protection engineering group,
presented an overview of the Cook Coal Terminal
fire at the 2008 ELECTRIC POWER
Conference. The following profile of the incident
is based upon their presentation.
AEP's Cook Coal Terminal is located
along the Ohio River near Metropolis, Ill. It
was the first utility-owned rail-to-river coal
transfer terminal. It began operations in 1976
and transloads approximately 15 million tons
of coal annually (Figure 6). The investigation
of this incident focused on two stations: Station
1, which houses dual rotary car dumpers
and conveyor 12 (455 ft long, 72 ft wide);
and Station 2, which was originally designed
as a crusher house (43 ft by 34 ft by 74 ft)
Overview of the Fire. Early in the morning
on Feb. 4, 2007, facility personnel discovered
a fire at the rail dumper and noticed a plastic
pipe was burning. Unloading was stopped, the
fire was extinguished, and unloading was re6.
Cooked Cook. AEP's Cook Coal Terminal,
located along the Ohio River near Metropolis,
Ill., was the first utility-owned rail-to-river
coal transfer terminal when constructed in
1976. In 2007, the terminal experienced a rail
car fire. Courtesy: American Electric Power
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