Coal transport - from ship to power plant on the conveyor
A conveyor was put into the operation in 2010 that connects the transhipment site in Pichelsdorf to the Dürnrohr power plant. The companies Donau Chemie AG (as the operator of the transhipment site), EVN AG and VERBUND-ATP formed a cooperation to finance the sustainable project. The new conveyor ensures the environmentally-friendly supply of coal to the power plant.
The coal is first loaded from the inland vessel at the site with a crane, then dumped into a loading hopper which in turn discharges it to a feeding conveyor. Seperated from metal and impurities, the coal is loaded onto the conveyor where it sets off on its 3.2-kilometre route to the power plant.
Around 2 million tons of coal per year can now be transported with a maximum conveyor capacity of 660 m³ an hour. In order to minimise dust and prevent the loss of material the conveyer is designed in such a way that it is transformed into a tube at its feeding point and does not open up again until shortly before the open storage site at the power plant. It is planned that around half of the coal required by the Dürnrohr power plant will be delivered in the long term by inland vessels. This means that the end haulage from the transhipment site to the coal storage location directly at the power plant is virtually Co2 and NOx neutral.
Regular transport operations have been carried out from the transhipment site to the power plant since April 2010. Donau Chemie, as the operator of the port, has expanded the unloading capacity of the transhipment site and also procured Austria´s largest mobile excavator to handle the transhipment of coal. EVN and ATP were responsible for the installation of the pipe conveyor from the transhipment site to their location.
