Clean coal

APES 2024

All coal plants worldwide emit

All coal plants worldwide emit

carbon dioxide

Some pilot plants seek to reduce carbon emissions but

they are still experimental

Clean coal tech can

reduce many other pollutants

Baghouse

capture all of the ash and most heavy metals

Scrubber

trap most of the sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide

Catalyst

remove some of the mercury

To run processes such as baghouses, scrubbers, and catalysts a plant has to

burn more coal at a higher cost with more carbon dioxide emissions

Greenhouse effect

Carbon dioxide is released when coal is burned and from the human body during respiration, it combines with other gases and forms a shield that allows the sun’s light through the atmosphere, but doesn’t let the heat that is produced out of the atmosphere

Without the greenhouse effect

Earth would be too cold to support life

Clean Coal Technology Program

a government and industry funded program that began in 1986 in an effort to resolve U.S. and Canadian concern over acid rain

Clean coal tech removes

sulfur and nitrogen oxides before, during, and after coal is burned, or convert coal to a gas or liquid fuel

Clean coal technologies are more

efficient, using less coal to produce the same amount of electricity

Fluidized Bed Combustor

crushed coal is mixed with limestone and suspended on jets of air inside a boiler, the coal mixture floats in the boiler like a boiling liquid, the limestone acts like a sponge by capturing 90% of the organic sulfur that is released when the coal is burned (the bubbling motion of the coal also enhances the burning process)

Combustion temperatures can be held to

1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, about half that of a conventional boiler, this temperature is below the threshold where nitrogen pollutants form and therefore a fluidized bed combustor keeps both sulfur and nitrogen oxides in check

Coal gasification

converts coal into a gas, it removes sulfur, nitrogen compounds, and particulates before the fuel is burned, making it as clean as natural gas

Research and demonstration projects are

underway around the U.S. and the world to capture carbon dioxide from power plants and use it or store it deep underground in geologic formations. Researchers are investigating the best ways to capture carbon dioxide, either before or after coal is combusted, it will then be compressed, converting the gas to a liquid. It can then be utilized by industry or transported via pipeline to appropriate storage sites

3 types of locations able to hold carbon dioxide

• deep saline formations

• oil and gas reservoirs that are near depletion or have been depleted

• unmineable coal seams