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Clean coal technology

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Further information: Carbon capture and storage

Clean coal technology is an umbrella term used to describe technologies being developed that aim to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation. These include chemically washing minerals and impurities from the coal, gasification (see also IGCC), treating the flue gases with steam to remove sulfur dioxide, carbon capture and storage technologies to capture the carbon dioxide from the flue gas and dewatering lower rank coals (brown coals) to improve the calorific quality, and thus the efficiency of the conversion into electricity.

Clean coal technology usually addresses atmospheric problems resulting from burning coal. Historically, the primary focus was on sulfur dioxide and particulates, since it is the most important gas in the causation of acid rain. More recent focus has been on carbon dioxide (due to its impact on global warming) as well as other pollutants. Concerns exist regarding the economic viability of these technologies and the timeframe of delivery, potentially high hidden economic costs in terms of social and environmental damage, and the costs and viability of disposing of removed carbon and other toxic matter.

Coal, which is primarily used for the generation of electricity, is the second largest domestic contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in the USA. The public has become more concerned about global warming which has led to new legislation. The coal industry has responded by running advertising touting clean coal in an effort to counter negative perceptions, as well as by putting more than $50 billion towards the development and deployment of clean coal technologies, including carbon capture and storage. The expenditure has been unsuccessful to date in that there is not a single commercial scale coal fired power station in the US that captures and stores more than token amounts of CO2.

Changing meanings of the term ‘clean coal’ and questions about motives have provoked skepticism from environmentalists. The term 'clean coal' is often stated in quotation marks by its critics due to claims that it is a misnomer and a public relations term. In November 2008, NBC anchor Brian Williams described clean coal as an oxymoron as part of the network’s report on the issue. However, the U.S. government employs the term in its research, as demonstrated by the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Coal Technology Program. The DOE defines clean coal as "a new generation of energy processes that sharply reduce air emissions and other pollutants from coal-burning power plants."

Clean Coal and the environment

Further information: Environmental effects of coal, mountaintop removal mining, and Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the burning of coal, a fossil fuel, is a major contributor to climate change and global warming. (See the UN IPCC Fourth Assessment Report). As 25.5% of the world's electrical generation in 2004 was from coal-fired generation (see World energy resources and consumption), reaching the carbon dioxide reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol will require modifications to how coal is utilized.

The latest in clean coal technologies, carbon capture and sequestration, is a means to capture carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants and permanently bury them underground. Currently, there are more than 80 carbon capture and sequestration projects underway in the United States. Sequestration technology has yet to be tested on a large scale and may not be safe or successful. Sequestered CO2 may eventually "leak" up through the ground, may lead to unexpected geological instability or may cause contamination of aquifers used for drinking water supplies. There are also concerns that plans to pump some of the sequestered CO2 into certain oil and gas reserves, to help make the fuels easier to pump out of the ground, will lead to increased concentrations of CO2 in potential fuel supplies. This would have to be removed or released during the refining process.

Supporters of clean coal use the Great Plains Synfuels plant to support the technical feasibility of carbon dioxide sequestration. Carbon dioxide from the coal gasification is shipped to Canada where it is injected into the ground to aid in oil recovery. Supporters acknowledge that economics can be problematic for carbon sequestration.

See also

Notes

  1. "Coal vs. Wind". Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  2. "The Future of Coal". Massachussets Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  3. "Time to bury the 'clean coal' myth". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  4. "The True Cost of Coal" (PDF). Greenpeace. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  5. "Carbon Capture and Storage". University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  6. "Carbon Capture Plans get Reality Check". Discovery Channel. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  7. "U.S. Coal Supply and Demand". Energy Information Administration. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  8. "Estimates of Monthly CO2 Emissions and Associated C/ Values from Fossil-Fuel Consumption in the U.S.A." Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  9. "ACCCE Details More than 80 CO2 Capture and Storage Projects". America's Power. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  10. http://www.thisisreality.org "This Is Reality" citing US EPA Retrieved=2009-01-22
  11. "The Dirty Truth About Clean Coal". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  12. "Clean Coal for Christmas". Center For Media and Democracy. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  13. "NBC Confirms That "Clean Coal" is an Oxymoron". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  14. "Fossil Energy: DOE's Clean Coal Technology Program". U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  15. "CRS Issue Brief for Congress - IB89005: Global Climate Change". National Council for Science and the Environment. August 13, 2001. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
  16. "ACCCE Details More than 80 CO2 Capture and Storage Projects". America's Power. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  17. "AWWA warns Congress about CO2 injection concerns". American Water Works Association. July 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  18. "'Clean coal' push concerns environmental activists". Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. October 16, 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  19. "Carbonomics: How to Fix the Climate and Charge it to OPEC". SSRN. Retrieved 2009-01-01.

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