PT Kaltim Prima Coal (Indonesia), Dust Control in Coal Handling to Tanjung Bara Coal Terminal
PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) is a coal mining company based in Sangatta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia (KPC, n.d.a). It runs its own export terminal, the Tanjung Bara Coal Terminal (TBCT). A covered overland conveyor carries coal 13 km from the Sangatta Coal Preparation Plant to TBCT.
The terminal has two stockpiles with a live capacity of 1.2 million tons each. A 2 km ship loading conveyor runs along a trestle jetty to a deepwater berth with 17.2 m draft that can take 220,000 DWT vessels.
Twin quadrant shiploaders have a combined capacity of up to 9,000 tons per hour (KPC, n.d.a). Stacking, reclaiming, conveying and ship loading at this scale are all points where coal dust can be released.
KPC manages dust from coal processing with a mix of mechanical and non-mechanical controls (KPC, n.d.b). KPC's environmental page describes these controls for coal processing and roads; it does not say which of them are installed at the terminal. The terminal-related measures it describes are the covered conveyor and the settling ponds for stockpile runoff in the port area (KPC, n.d.a; KPC, n.d.b).
Approach
Prevent dust at the source. In coal processing, KPC uses mechanical controls that act before dust is generated. These include dust deflectors, chutes, curtains and skirts (KPC, n.d.b).
Wet and bind remaining dust. Non-mechanical controls are water fogging, water spraying and dust-binding agents (KPC, n.d.b). Roads are sprayed regularly with water mixed with dust-binding agents (KPC, n.d.b).
Green buffer. KPC plants trees in industrial areas to keep dust from reaching nearby settlements. The trees act as a second line of protection when residual dust escapes the primary controls (KPC, n.d.b).
Manage stockpile runoff. Wastewater in the port area comes partly from coal stockpile activities. Stockpile runoff is sent to settling ponds (KPC, n.d.b). This matters because water used for dust control must be collected and treated.
Management system and policy. KPC has run an ISO 14001 environmental management system since 2004. Since 2017 it has had an Air Pollution Reduction Policy with commitments and reduction targets (KPC, n.d.b).
Results
KPC's public pages describe its dust controls and policy, but do not publish ambient dust monitoring results for the terminal. Documented outcomes are an ISO 14001 system in place since 2004 and an Air Pollution Reduction Policy in place since 2017. The 2021 revision of the policy set targets to cut SO2 by 300 tons per year, NOx by 20.66 tons per year and CO by 11.67 tons per year (KPC, n.d.b).
Transferability
DMC bulk ports and private coal or mineral terminals can combine source controls (deflectors, chutes, curtains and skirts at transfer points) with wet suppression and binding agents, rather than relying on water alone.
Tree buffers between stockpiles and settlements are a low cost second line of defence.
Linking dust control to stockpile drainage and settling ponds avoids moving the problem from air to water.
Placing these measures inside an ISO 14001 system and a written air pollution policy gives a basis for targets and review. Ports adopting this model should also consider publish monitoring results.
Sources
All information used for this case study was based on publicly available resources.