Clean coal technology

CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY
PAPER BY MRITTIKA ROY

The World Energy Scene
Energy is fundamental to almost every aspect of modern life and societies require
increasing amounts of energy as they grow and develop. The demand for energy is
growing
worldwide – the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that energy demand will
increase by almost 70% over the next 30 years, with most of that growth taking place in
developing countries. Even then some 1.4 billion people could still lack access to
electricity [IEA 2002]. To meet this need, the world will have to make the best possible
use of the various energy sources available, including coal, the most abundant and
affordable of the fossil fuels.

Coalfired Power Generation as a Proportion of Total Electricity Consumption

Coal plays a major part in the world’s energy system and hence in global economic and
social development. Coal currently supplies over 38% of the world’s electricity and 23%
of global primary energy needs. Coal‐fired electricity drives the economies of the two

Page 1 of 9

most populous and fastest growing countries in the world today – China and India – as
well as a number of key industrial economies, such as the USA and Germany. Coal
consumption is expected to grow by around 1.4% per year over the next thirty years .
With its vast, low‐cost resource base, there is no doubt that coal can continue to
contribute to economic growth and social development. But the industry recognises
that it must also be able to meet the challenge of environmental sustainability. In
particular, coal and other carbon‐intensive energy sources must significantly reduce
their potential greenhouse impacts if they are to claim a continuing and sustainable role
in the global energy mix. The coal industry is committed to this objective and believes it
can be achieved, primarily through the development and deployment of clean coal
technologies.

The Environmental Challenge and Response
Clean Coal – Building a Future through Technology reflects the coal industry’s concern
over the issues facing coal, but also its optimism about the future, given progress
already made and the technological options available for successfully addressing those
issues. Coal’s technical response to its environmental challenges is ongoing and
multifaceted. However, it can be said to have three core elements:

1. Eliminating emissions of pollutants such as particulate matter and oxides of sulphur
and nitrogen. This has largely been achieved and the issue now is the application of ‘off‐
the‐shelf’ technology.

2. Increasing thermal efficiency to reduce CO2 and other emissions per unit of electricity
generated.
Major gains have already been achieved and further potential can be realised.

3. Eliminating CO2 emissions. The development of ‘zero emissions technologies’ has
commenced and is accelerating rapidly.

A fourth dimension is the potential for coal to provide an essential source of hydrogen
for completely clean future energy systems for stationary and transport applications.
This would see coal not just put its own house in order, but become a mainstay of an
effective and lasting global response to climate change – truly part of the solution rather
than one of the problems.

The Road to Environmental Sustainability
The technologies employed and being developed to meet coal’s environmental
challenges – collectively referred to as clean coal technology (CCT) – represent a
continuously developing range of options to suit different coal types, different
environmental problems, and different levels of economic development.

Page 2 of 9

Different options are appropriate to different circumstances. In particular, the
technologies that are viable in a developed country may not be as relevant to
developing economies – typically, developing countries are unable to afford highly
complex and expensive new technology and supporting infrastructure.
The efficiency of older plant in many developing countries is only around 30%,
compared with the OECD average of around 36% – the transfer of new technology from
developed to developing countries is vital to achieving efficiency improvements
worldwide. New supercritical plant can achieve overall thermal efficiencies in the 43‐
45% range. In most countries, such plant is already fully commercial – in other words
the efficiency gains and emissions reductions can be made without incurring significant
social costs.
A one percentage point increase in efficiency Reduces emissions by around 2%.
Upgrading or replacing older plant can therefore yield very significant CO2 reductions –
from 10% to 25% depending on the circumstances. Such reductions would be fully
consistent.

1. Enhanced Take Up of Existing Options
Conventional coal‐fired generation today is normally via pulverised coal combustion
(PCC) – coal is pulverised into a powder, which is burnt in a high temperature furnace to
heat water and produce steam to drive a steam turbine. Modern PCC technology is well
developed, with thousands of units around the world, accounting for well over 90% of
coal‐fired capacity. Most of the coal‐fired power plant worldwide that is not PCC is
circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC).
A range of options already exists to improve the environmental performance of
conventional coal‐fired power stations.

Coal cleaning by washing and beneficiation continues to play an important role in
reducing emissions from coal‐fired power stations (see Annex for further information
on coal cleaning and other clean coal technologies). Coal cleaning can reduce the ash
content of coal by over 50%, reduce SO2 emissions and improve thermal efficiencies
(leading to lower CO2 emissions).
While coal preparation is standard in many countries, it could be usefully extended in
developing countries as a low‐cost way to improve the environmental performance of
coal use. Only around 11% of thermal coal in China, for example, is currently washed. If
a greater proportion of this coal were cleaned, there is the potential for thermal
efficiency improvements of at least 2‐3% and possibly up to 4‐5%.

Particulate emissions can be reduced by methods such as electrostatic precipitators,
fabric filters (also known as baghouses), wet particulate scrubbers and hot gas filtration
systems. Electrostatic precipitators use an electrical field to create a charge on particles
in the flue gas, so that the particles are attracted to collecting plates. Fabric filters collect

Page 3 of 9

particulates from the flue gas on a tightly woven fabric by sieving. Both electrostatic
precipitators and fabric filters can remove over 99% of particulate emissions.
Global concerns over the effects of acid rain have led to the widespread development
and utilisation of technologies to reduce, and in some cases eliminate, emissions of SOx.
Flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology, for example, employs a sorbent, usually
lime or limestone, to remove sulphur dioxide from the flue gas.
FGD systems are currently installed in 27 countries and have led to enormous
reductions in emissions – wet scrubbers, the most widely used FGD technology, can
achieve removal efficiencies as high as 99%. The cost of FGD units has also reduced
significantly, now costing one‐third of what they did in the 1970s.

NOx reduction technologies include the use of low NOx burners, selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) and selective non‐catalytic reduction (SNCR). Low NOx burners and
burner optimisation techniques are used to minimise the formation of NOx during
combustion.
Techniques such as SCR and SNCR lower NOx emissions by treating the NOx post‐
combustion in the flue gas. SCR technology achieves 80‐90% NOx reduction and has
been used commercially in Japan since 1980 and in Germany since 1986. SCR
demonstration and full‐scale systems were installed in US coal‐fired power plants
burning high sulphur coal in the 1990s, leading to reductions in emission levels.

2. Deployment of Advanced Technologies

A range of advanced technologies has been developed, and continues to be enhanced,
to make further reductions in the emissions of pollutants and to improve coal power
plant efficiencies.

Fluidised bed combustion (FBC), in its various forms, can reduce SOx and NOx by
90% or more. In fluidised bed combustion systems, coal is burnt in a bed of heated
particles suspended in flowing air. At sufficiently high air velocity, the bed acts as a fluid
resulting in rapid mixing of the particles. This fluidising action allows complete coal
combustion at relatively low temperatures. FBC systems are popular because of the
technology’s fuel flexibility; almost any combustible material can be burnt. In the USA,
for example, FBC systems are increasingly utilised to burn abandoned piles of coal
waste, turning what could otherwise be an environmental problem into a useful source
of power.

Circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC) is of particular value for low grade,
high ash coals that are difficult to pulverise and which may have variable combustion
characteristics, while still ensuring low emissions of NOx and SOx. The first supercritical
CFBC plant is being established at Polish utility PKE’s Lagisza site in Southern Poland.

Page 4 of 9

The plant is the largest CFBC to date, at 460MW, and represents the way forward for
CFBC technology. Commercial operation has been scheduled for 2006 and efficiency
levels are projected to be around 43%. CFBC is likely to be the most attractive form of
FBC technology to have a serious share of the global market for power generation.

Supercritical and Ultrasupercritical Power Plant Technology
Supercritical pulverised coal‐fired power plant operate at higher steam temperatures
and pressures than conventional subcritical PCC plant, and offer higher efficiencies – up
to 45% – and hence lower emissions, including emissions of CO2, for a given power
output (see graph on page 9). Even higher efficiencies – up to 50% – can be expected in
ultra‐supercritical (USC) power plant, operating at very high temperatures and
pressure.
In most countries supercritical plant are now commercial, with capital costs only
slightly higher than those of conventional plant and significantly lower unit fuel costs
because of the increased efficiency and, in many cases, higher plant availability.
More than 400 supercritical plant are in operation worldwide, including a number in
developing countries. The 2 x 600MW supercritical Shanghai Shidongkou coal‐fired
power plant in China, for example, was put into operation in the early 1990s and China
is now installing supercritical plant as standard for new plant.

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
In Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems, coal is not combusted
directly, but reacted with oxygen and steam to produce a ‘syngas’ composed mainly of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syngas is cleaned of impurities and then burned in
a gas turbine to generate electricity and to produce steam for a steam power cycle.
IGCC technology offers high efficiency levels, typically in the mid‐40s – although plant
designs offering close to 50% efficiencies are available – and as much as 95‐99% of NOx
and SOx emissions are removed. The further development and support of IGCC offers
the prospect of net efficiencies of 56% in the future, and therefore its widening
deployment will have an increasingly favourable impact on the environmental
performance of coal. There are around 160 IGCC plants worldwide, including the Tampa
Electric Polk project and the Wabash River coal gasification project in the USA, and the
ELCOGAS Puertollano IGCC in Spain. Around 16,500MWe (megawatt equivalent) of IGCC
is expected to be operating in the USA by 2020.
In Japan, a 250MW IGCC demonstration project was launched in 2001 by the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Jointly launched with 11 corporations, the Clean
Coal Power R&D Co Ltd was established to conduct the IGCC demonstration project,
consisting of three 3‐year phases of design, construction and operation, with project
completion in 2009.

Page 5 of 9

The 1700 t/d demonstration plant will use filtration for particulates removal with
scrubbing for desulphurisation. Sulphur will be recovered as gypsum. The target net
efficiency of the demonstration plant is 42%. The estimated power output of a
commercial plant is 500‐600MWe, with net efficiencies of over 48%.
The appeal of IGCC technology also extends beyond the potential for increased
efficiencies and further reductions in pollutants. IGCC technology may also be the
chosen pathway for the ultra low emissions system of the future, using carbon capture
and storage, and as part of a future hydrogen economy. In IGCC, the syngas can be
‘shifted’ to produce CO2 and H2, which can then be separated so that the hydrogen is
available as a clean fuel product for use in power generation via gas turbines and fuel
cells. The CO2 is then available in a concentrated form for capture and storage. At
present, IGCC applications for power generation are considered by some to be less
reliable than other clean coal technology options, such as supercritical PCC and CFBC.
Further development in this area will be necessary if the technology is to become the
chosen pathway.

3. Exploiting Synergies with Renewables
Renewable energy technologies are set to grow in importance and account for an
increasing share of the world’s energy mix. However, there are a number of significant
practical and economic barriers that limit the rate of penetration by renewables.
One of the problems is that renewable energy forms tend by their nature to be
intermittent or unpredictable and to be ‘site dependent’ – i.e. only available at particular
suitable sites. Wind energy, for instance, depends on whether and how strongly the
wind is blowing and even the best sites do not normally operate for more than about
one third of the time. Hydro electric power similarly depends on the right sort of
geographic conditions and on rainfall; a dry year may see shortages. Many forms of
biomass are seasonal or difficult to transport.
Coal can be used to help overcome these difficulties, and hence support renewables use.
Coal is widely available, easy to store and transport, and reliable coal‐fired generation
can balance the uncertainties introduced into the power grid by intermittent renewable
energy. There are also operational synergies between coal and renewables that can
significantly increase the efficiency of the renewable technologies and may be the most
cost‐effective way of increasing their use. In particular, the economics and efficiency of
biomass renewable fuels can be improved by co‐firing with coal. Existing conventional
coal‐fired power stations can generally use between 10% and 20% biomass without
modification, making it possible to reduce greenhouse emissions and use renewable
resources, which would otherwise often go to waste. Purpose‐built coal and biomass co‐
fired plant can also be constructed – fuel crops such as bagasse (sugar‐cane), for
instance, may be available only on a seasonal basis, making it more practical to
construct power plant capable of burning both bagasse
(when available) and coal.

Page 6 of 9

Other renewables also offer similar synergies with coal – for instance, linking steam
from solar thermal technology with the steam cycle of coal‐fired power plant can be an
effective way of converting solar energy into electricity, at lower cost and with higher
efficiencies than alternative routes, such as photovoltaics. On a wider scale, coal‐fired
plant can complement wind or hydro generation providing the backup needed when the
renewable sources are not available.

4. Development and Commercialisation of Next Generation
Technologies
The increased efficiencies offered by the state‐of‐the‐art technologies discussed in
previous sections offer the prospect of significant progressive reductions in CO2
emissions from coal‐fired power generation over the short to medium term. In the
longer term, technologies for carbon capture and storage (CCS) have the potential not
only to be an economic and environmentally acceptable route to a low carbon future but
also to enable coal to form the basis of a future hydrogen economy. These technologies
enable emissions of carbon dioxide to be ‘captured’ and ‘stored’ that is stripped out of
the exhaust stream from coal combustion or gasification and disposed of in such a way
that they do not enter the atmosphere. Carbon storage is not currently commercial but
the required technologies are already proven and have been used in commercial
applications in other contexts.
Technologies for capturing CO2 from emission streams have been used for many years
to produce pure CO2 for use in the food processing and chemicals industry. Petroleum
companies routinely separate CO2 from natural gas before it is transported to market by
pipeline. While there is a range of possible capture methods, further development is
needed to demonstrate their viability for separating out CO2 from high volume, low CO2
concentration flue gases, such as those generated by conventional pulverised coal‐fired
power stations. If these technical and cost challenges can be addressed, retrofit (or new
build) of so‐called ‘postcombustion’ capture’ systems will become an economic and
practical CO2 reduction option.
Alternative routes to lower capture costs lie in the production of a more concentrated,
pressurised stream of CO2. This can be achieved through the ‘pre‐combustion’ capture
of CO2, oxyfuel combustion, or through chemical looping combustion.
‘Precombustion’ capture can be achieved via IGCC technology by adapting the
process so that hydrogen is produced along with CO2, rather than carbon monoxide.
The hydrogen is then combusted in a gas turbine – and in the future used in a fuel cell –
and the CO2 is captured for storage or use.
An alternative approach is oxyfuel combustion, which relies on the relatively simple
principle of burning coal in an oxygen‐rich atmosphere to produce a pure stream of
CO2. Much the same technology is used in steelmaking and hence there may be no

Page 7 of 9

insurmountable technical barriers to CO2 capture linked to oxyfuel power generation in
the future.
Another option under development is chemical looping combustion, where coal is
indirectly combusted via chemical looping. An air‐fired boiler uses a continuously
looping solid oxygen‐carrier, which oxidises the fuel into primarily water and carbon
dioxide. Simple condensation of the water then yields a fairly pure stream of CO2 for
compression and liquefaction.

Storing and Using CO2
A number of options for the storage of CO2 are being researched at the present time,
including geological storage and mineral storage.

Geological Storage – Injection of CO2 into the earth’s subsurface offers potential for
the permanent storage of very large quantities of CO2 and is the most comprehensively
studied storage option. The CO2 is compressed to a dense state, before being piped deep
underground into natural geological ‘reservoirs’. Provided the reservoir site is carefully
chosen, the CO2 will remain stored (trapped in the bedrock or dissolved in solution) for
very long periods of time and can be monitored.
An obvious site for geological storage is depleted oil and gas reservoirs. In the USA, it is
estimated by the US Department of Energy (DOE) that the storage capacity of depleted
gas reservoirs is about 80‐100 Gigatonnes, or enough to store US emissions of CO2 from
major stationary sources (e.g. power stations) for 50 years or more.

Saline Aquifers – Storing large amounts of CO2 in deep saline water‐saturated
reservoir rocks also offers great potential. One major project is already being conducted
by the Norwegian company Statoil. This is at the Sleipner field in the Norwegian section
of the North Sea, where about 1 million tonnes a year of CO2 are being injected into the
Utisira Formation at a depth of about 800‐1000 metres below the sea floor.
A comprehensive analysis of the storage potential of saline reservoirs in Australia was
undertaken as part of the GEODISC (Geological Disposal of Carbon Dioxide) project. It
indicated storage potential of Australian saline aquifers adequate to store that country’s
total CO2 emissions for many hundreds of years at current rates of emission. It is hoped
that a major CO2 storage demonstration project will be under way in Australia in 2005‐
06 [COAL21 2004].

Mineral Carbonation It is a process whereby CO2 is reacted with naturally occurring
substances to create a product chemically equivalent to naturally occurring carbonate
minerals. The weathering of alkaline rocks is a natural form of CO2 storage, which
normally occurs over long periods of time.
Essentially mimicking this natural process, mineral storage speeds up the reactions and
turns CO2 into a solid, environmentally benign mineral. Mineral carbonation is still at

Page 8 of 9

the laboratory stage of development and research is focusing on how to accelerate
reaction rates. While the permanent storage of CO2 would be the primary goal of
geological storage, the practice can have ancillary economic benefits, by enabling
improved oil and coal‐bed methane extraction, which may aid its adoption by industry.

Enhanced Oil Recovery – CO2 is already widely used in the oil industry to increase oil
production –the CO2 helps pump oil out of the underground strata, so increasing the
level of recovery from the field. Without such methods of enhanced production, many
oil fields can only produce half or less of the original resource. The CO2 therefore has a
positive commercial value in such situations.

Enhanced Coalbed Methane – is a potential opportunity for storing CO2 in un‐
mineable coal seams and obtaining improved production of coal‐bed methane as a
valuable by‐product. The capture and storage of CO2 presents one of the most
promising options for large‐scale reductions in CO2 emissions from energy use. The
economics of CCS are likely to be broadly comparable with those of other options, such
as renewables. For instance, an IEA GHG study gives the cost of carbon capture and
storage as 3 USc/kWh (2.5 zc/kWh) [IEA GHG 2001]. This compares with the current
buy‐out price for UK renewables of over 3p (5 zc)/kWh or the premium of 9 zc/kWh for
wind power under the German Renewable Energy Law [Federal Environment Ministry
2000]. The costs of renewables, of course, are expected to fall in future as the
technology develops – but the same is true of carbon capture and storage. A key
objective of the research projects discussed in Section 3 is to bring down the costs
substantially, for example the FutureGen project aims to produce electricity from a coal‐
fired power station incorporating carbon capture and storage at no more than 10%
higher cost than one without CCS

_________________________________________________

Page 9 of 9

Clean coal technology

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Clean coal technology (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Clean coal technology