Clean coal
Encyclopedia
Historically used to refer to technologies for reducing emissions of ash, sulfur, and heavy metals from coal combustion; the term is now commonly used to refer to carbon capture and storage
(CCS) technology. Clean coal is an umbrella term
used primarily to describe technologies that may reduce emissions of carbon dioxide
(CO2) and other greenhouse gas
that arise from the burning of coal
for electrical power. Typically, clean coal is used by coal companies in reference to carbon capture and storage, which pumps and stores CO2 emissions underground, and to plants using an Integrated gasification combined cycle
which gasifies coal to reduce CO2 emissions.
Carbon capture and storage technologies are being developed primarily in response to regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency—most notably the Clean Air Act
—and in anticipation of legislation that seeks to mitigate climate change
. Currently, the electricity sector of the United States
is responsible for about 41% of the nation's CO2 emissions, and half of the sector's production comes from coal-fired power plants.
continues to work with private industry to develop carbon capture and storage technologies. Several methods are available under this technology including pre-capture, oxy-fuel combustion, and post-capture CCS. Perhaps the most popular example of a coal-based plant using (oxy-fuel) carbon-capture technology is Vattenfall
’s Schwarze Pumpe plant in Germany. However, it has not yet been demonstrated that carbon stored underground will be able to stay there indefinitely. Another technology under development is Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
or IGCC.
A more recent technology being co-developed by Babcock-ThermoEnergy is the Zero Emission Boiler System (ZEBS). This system features near 100% carbon-capture and according to company information virtually no air-emmissons.
Other carbon capture and storage technologies include those that dewater low-rank coals. Low-rank coals often contain a higher level of moisture content which contains a lower energy content per tonne. This causes a reduced burning efficiency and an increased emissions output. Reduction of moisture from the coal prior to combustion can reduce emissions by up to 50 percent.
The UK government's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is working towards a clean energy future and supports clean coal projects across the country. In August 2010 UK based company B9 Coal
announced a clean coal project with 90% carbon capture to be put forward to DECC in order to help the UK raise it's profile amongst green leaders across the world. This proposed project gasifys coal underground
and process it to create pure streams of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen is then used as a emissions free fuel to run an alkaline fuel cell whilst the carbon dioxide is captured. This UK project could provide a world leading template for clean coal with CCS globally.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
, the burning of coal, a fossil fuel
, is a significant contributor to 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.
Sequestration technology has yet to be tested on a large scale and may not be safe or successful. Sequestered 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 into certain oil and gas reserves, to help make the fuels easier to pump out of the ground, will lead to increased concentrations of in potential fuel supplies. This would have to be removed or released during the refining process.
Technologies related to reducing the environmental impact of extracting energy from coal do not address environmental impacts of coal mining. Examples of environmental impacts of coal mining include the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
.
While it is possible to remove most of the sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide
s (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions from the coal-burning process, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and radionuclides
will be more difficult to address.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest aggregate source of mercury
: 50 tons per year come from coal power plants out of 150 tons emitted nationally in the USA and 5000 tons globally. In the USA, neither the combustion products of oil, nor their associated solid or liquid waste streams, are considered to be major contributors to mercury pollution.
Projected costs for CCS can be found in that article. Credit Suisse Group says $15 billion needs to be invested in CCS over the next 10 years for it to play an important role in climate change. The International Energy Agency
says $20 billion is needed. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
says the number is as high as $30 billion. Those figures dwarf the actual investments to date.
In the US, the Bush administration spent about $2.5 billion on clean coal technology
— a large amount, but far less than what will be needed. CCS proponents say both the government and the private sector need to step up their investments.
in 2003 to build a near zero-emissions coal
-fueled power plant to produce hydrogen
and electricity
while using carbon capture and storage. Funding for the plant was withdrawn by the Department of Energy
on 29 January 2008.
. Bush's position was that carbon capture and storage technologies should be encouraged as one means to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
During the 2008 US Presidential campaign, both candidates John McCain
and Barack Obama
expressed interest in the development of CCS technologies as part of an overall comprehensive energy plan. The development of clean coal also creates the possibility of international business
for the United States and other world markets.
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, signed in 2009 by President Obama, allocated $3.4 billion for advanced carbon capture and storage technologies, including CCS demonstration projects.
Current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that “we should strive to have new electricity generation come from other sources, such as clean coal and renewables,” and current Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu has said that “It is absolutely worthwhile to invest in carbon capture and storage,” noting that even if the U.S. and Europe turned their backs on coal, developing nations like India and China would not.
In Australia, carbon capture and storage was often referred to by former Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd
as a possible way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (The previous Prime Minister
John Howard
has stated that nuclear power
is a better alternative, as CCS technology may not prove to be economically favourable.)
's Global Warming and Energy Program, believes that the term clean coal is misleading: "There is no such thing as clean coal and there never will be. It's an oxymoron
". The Sierra Club's Coal Campaign has launched a site refuting the clean coal statements and advertising of the coal industry, http://CoalIsNotTheAnswer.org.
Complaints focus on the environmental impacts of coal extraction
, high costs to sequester carbon
, and uncertainty of how to manage end result pollutants
and radionuclide
s.
The 2007 Australian of the Year
, paleontologist and influential environmental activist Tim Flannery
made the assertion that the concept of clean coal might not be viable for all geographical locations.
Critics also believe that the continuing construction of coal-powered plants (whether or not they use carbon sequestration techniques) encourages unsustainable mining practices for coal, which can strip away mountains, hillsides, and natural areas. They also point out that there can be a large amount of energy required and pollution emitted in transporting the coal to the power plants. Also, scrubber
s will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gases:
The Reality Coalition, a nonprofit organization composed of Alliance for Climate Protection, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters, ran a series of television commercials in 2008 and 2009. The commercials were highly critical of clean coal, stating that without capturing emissions and storing it safely that it cannot be called clean coal.
Greenpeace
is a major opponent of the concept because they view emissions and wastes as not being avoided but instead transferred from one waste stream to another.
used to describe methods that have been developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal-based electricity, which accounts for nearly half of the United States’ electricity supply. These efforts include chemically washing mineral
s 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 coal de-watering technologies to improve the energy quality and thus the efficiency of burning coal for energy. These methods and the technology used are described as clean coal technologies. Figures from the Environmental Protection Agency show that these technologies have made today’s coal-based generating fleet 77 percent cleaner on the basis of regulated emissions per unit of energy produced.
While the term "clean coal" is today commonly used to describe carbon capture technologies, the earliest use of the term can be traced back to U.S. Senate Bill 911 in April, 1987:
“The term clean coal technology means any technology…deployed at a new or existing facility which will achieve significant reductions in air emissions of sulfur dioxide or oxides of nitrogen associated with the utilization of coal in the generation of electricity.”
It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted a joint program with the industry and State agencies to demonstrate these technologies large enough for commercial use. The program, called the Clean Coal Technology & Clean Coal Power Initiative, has had a number of successes that have reduced emissions and waste from coal-based electricity generation http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/cleancoal/. Moreover, the Program has met regulatory challenges by incorporating nitrogen oxide (NOx) control technologies “into a portfolio of cost-effective regulatory compliance options for the full range of boiler types.” This portfolio has positioned the U.S. as a top exporter of clean coal technologies such as those used for NOx. The DOE continues its programs and initiatives through regional sequestration partnerships, a carbon sequestration leadership forum and the Carbon Sequestration Core Program, a CCS research and development program.
According to a report by the assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, clean coal technology has paid measurable dividends. Technological innovation introduced through the CCT Program now provides consumers cost-effective, clean, coal-based energy.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) control technologies emerging from clean coal technology have moved into the utility and industrial marketplace and now provide cost-effective regulatory compliance. A new generation of advanced coal-based power systems has been placed in commercial service that represents a quantum leap forward in terms of efficiency and environmental performance. These advanced power systems projects will provide a springboard for widespread, global deployment. This in turn will contribute greatly to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The government and industry officials continue to use the term "clean coal" to describe technologies designed to enhance both the efficiency and the environmental acceptability of coal extraction, preparation and use, however today the term “clean coal technology” is usually used in reference to carbon capture and storage, an advanced process that eliminates carbon dioxide emissions from coal-based plants and permanently sequesters them.
In the early 20th century, prior to World War II, clean coal (also called "smokeless coal") referred to anthracite and high-grade bituminous coal
, used for cooking and home heating.
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...
(CCS) technology. Clean coal is an umbrella term
Umbrella term
An umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...
used primarily to describe technologies that may reduce emissions of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
(CO2) and other greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
that arise from the burning of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
for electrical power. Typically, clean coal is used by coal companies in reference to carbon capture and storage, which pumps and stores CO2 emissions underground, and to plants using an Integrated gasification combined cycle
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
An integrated gasification combined cycle is a technology that turns coal into gas—synthesis gas . It then removes impurities from the coal gas before it is combusted and attempts to turn any pollutants into re-usable byproducts. This results in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates, and...
which gasifies coal to reduce CO2 emissions.
Carbon capture and storage technologies are being developed primarily in response to regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency—most notably the Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act
A Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
—and in anticipation of legislation that seeks to mitigate climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. Currently, the electricity sector of the United States
Electricity sector of the United States
The electricity sector of the United States includes a large array of stakeholders that provide services through electricity generation, transmission, distribution and marketing for industrial, commercial, public and residential customers...
is responsible for about 41% of the nation's CO2 emissions, and half of the sector's production comes from coal-fired power plants.
Clean coal technology
The United States Department of EnergyUnited States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
continues to work with private industry to develop carbon capture and storage technologies. Several methods are available under this technology including pre-capture, oxy-fuel combustion, and post-capture CCS. Perhaps the most popular example of a coal-based plant using (oxy-fuel) carbon-capture technology is Vattenfall
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is a Swedish power company. The name Vattenfall is Swedish for waterfall, and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board...
’s Schwarze Pumpe plant in Germany. However, it has not yet been demonstrated that carbon stored underground will be able to stay there indefinitely. Another technology under development is Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
An integrated gasification combined cycle is a technology that turns coal into gas—synthesis gas . It then removes impurities from the coal gas before it is combusted and attempts to turn any pollutants into re-usable byproducts. This results in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates, and...
or IGCC.
A more recent technology being co-developed by Babcock-ThermoEnergy is the Zero Emission Boiler System (ZEBS). This system features near 100% carbon-capture and according to company information virtually no air-emmissons.
Other carbon capture and storage technologies include those that dewater low-rank coals. Low-rank coals often contain a higher level of moisture content which contains a lower energy content per tonne. This causes a reduced burning efficiency and an increased emissions output. Reduction of moisture from the coal prior to combustion can reduce emissions by up to 50 percent.
The UK government's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is working towards a clean energy future and supports clean coal projects across the country. In August 2010 UK based company B9 Coal
B9 Coal
B9 Coal has created a world first template for commercially attractive, flexible, clean energy projects intent on revolutionising the way we produce electricity. By combining alkaline fuel cells with fossil fuels, B9 Coal provides an essential step in the move to a low carbon future...
announced a clean coal project with 90% carbon capture to be put forward to DECC in order to help the UK raise it's profile amongst green leaders across the world. This proposed project gasifys coal underground
Underground Coal Gasification
Underground coal gasification is an industrial process, which converts coal into product gas. UCG is an in-situ gasification process carried out in non-mined coal seams using injection of oxidants, and bringing the product gas to surface through production wells drilled from the surface. The...
and process it to create pure streams of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen is then used as a emissions free fuel to run an alkaline fuel cell whilst the carbon dioxide is captured. This UK project could provide a world leading template for clean coal with CCS globally.
Clean coal and the environment
According to the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
, the burning of coal, a fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
, is a significant contributor to global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. (See the UN IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
Climate Change 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change, its potential effects, and options for...
). As 25.5% of the world's electrical generation in 2004 was from coal-fired generation (see World energy resources and consumption
World energy resources and consumption
]World energy consumption in 2010: over 5% growthEnergy markets have combined crisis recovery and strong industry dynamism. Energy consumption in the G20 soared by more than 5% in 2010, after the slight decrease of 2009. This strong increase is the result of two converging trends...
), reaching the carbon dioxide reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
will require modifications to how coal is utilized.
Sequestration technology has yet to be tested on a large scale and may not be safe or successful. Sequestered 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 into certain oil and gas reserves, to help make the fuels easier to pump out of the ground, will lead to increased concentrations of in potential fuel supplies. This would have to be removed or released during the refining process.
Technologies related to reducing the environmental impact of extracting energy from coal do not address environmental impacts of coal mining. Examples of environmental impacts of coal mining include the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
The TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill occurred just before 1 a.m. on Monday December 22, 2008, when an ash dike ruptured at an solid waste containment area at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, USA. of coal fly ash slurry was...
.
Gasification
Gasification is a process that avoids burning coal. “Unlike traditional combustion processes which fully oxidize carbonaceous fuels to generate heat, modern coal gasifiers convert coal into syngas via partial oxidation reactions with oxygen or with steam and oxygen under elevated pressures.14,62”(Li et. Al 252). Syngas is made of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is then cleaned and burned in place of coal to make electricity.Byproducts
The byproducts of coal combustion are considerably hazardous to the environment if not properly contained.While it is possible to remove most of the sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide can refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide, also known as nitrogen monoxide, , nitrogen oxide* Nitrogen dioxide , nitrogen oxide...
s (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions from the coal-burning process, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and radionuclides
will be more difficult to address.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest aggregate source of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
: 50 tons per year come from coal power plants out of 150 tons emitted nationally in the USA and 5000 tons globally. In the USA, neither the combustion products of oil, nor their associated solid or liquid waste streams, are considered to be major contributors to mercury pollution.
Potential financial cost of clean coal
Whether carbon capture and storage technology is adopted world wide will “…depend less on science than on economics. Cleaning coal is very expensive.”Projected costs for CCS can be found in that article. Credit Suisse Group says $15 billion needs to be invested in CCS over the next 10 years for it to play an important role in climate change. The International Energy Agency
International Energy Agency
The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis...
says $20 billion is needed. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions transitioned from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in November 2011 under the leadership of its president, Eileen Claussen...
says the number is as high as $30 billion. Those figures dwarf the actual investments to date.
In the US, the Bush administration spent about $2.5 billion on clean coal technology
Clean coal technology
Clean coal technology is a collection of technologies being developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation. When coal is used as a fuel source, the gaseous emmissions generated by the thermal decomposition of the coal, include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon...
— a large amount, but far less than what will be needed. CCS proponents say both the government and the private sector need to step up their investments.
FutureGen
FutureGen is a US government project, announced by President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in 2003 to build a near zero-emissions coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
-fueled power plant to produce hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
and electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
while using carbon capture and storage. Funding for the plant was withdrawn by the Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
on 29 January 2008.
Support
In the United States, clean coal was mentioned by former President George W. Bush on several occasions, including his 2007 State of the Union AddressState of the Union Address
The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...
. Bush's position was that carbon capture and storage technologies should be encouraged as one means to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
During the 2008 US Presidential campaign, both candidates John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
expressed interest in the development of CCS technologies as part of an overall comprehensive energy plan. The development of clean coal also creates the possibility of international business
International Business
International business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary...
for the United States and other world markets.
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, signed in 2009 by President Obama, allocated $3.4 billion for advanced carbon capture and storage technologies, including CCS demonstration projects.
Current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that “we should strive to have new electricity generation come from other sources, such as clean coal and renewables,” and current Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu has said that “It is absolutely worthwhile to invest in carbon capture and storage,” noting that even if the U.S. and Europe turned their backs on coal, developing nations like India and China would not.
In Australia, carbon capture and storage was often referred to by former Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
as a possible way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (The previous Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
has stated that nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
is a better alternative, as CCS technology may not prove to be economically favourable.)
Criticism
Environmentalists such as Dan Becker, director of the Sierra ClubSierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
's Global Warming and Energy Program, believes that the term clean coal is misleading: "There is no such thing as clean coal and there never will be. It's an oxymoron
Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms...
". The Sierra Club's Coal Campaign has launched a site refuting the clean coal statements and advertising of the coal industry, http://CoalIsNotTheAnswer.org.
Complaints focus on the environmental impacts of coal extraction
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
, high costs to sequester carbon
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...
, and uncertainty of how to manage end result pollutants
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
and radionuclide
Radionuclide
A radionuclide is an atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized by excess energy available to be imparted either to a newly created radiation particle within the nucleus or to an atomic electron. The radionuclide, in this process, undergoes radioactive decay, and emits gamma...
s.
The 2007 Australian of the Year
Australian of the Year
Since 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual...
, paleontologist and influential environmental activist Tim Flannery
Tim Flannery
Timothy Fridtjof Flannery is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist and global warming activist....
made the assertion that the concept of clean coal might not be viable for all geographical locations.
Critics also believe that the continuing construction of coal-powered plants (whether or not they use carbon sequestration techniques) encourages unsustainable mining practices for coal, which can strip away mountains, hillsides, and natural areas. They also point out that there can be a large amount of energy required and pollution emitted in transporting the coal to the power plants. Also, scrubber
Scrubber
Scrubber systems are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams. Traditionally, the term "scrubber" has referred to pollution control devices that use liquid to wash unwanted pollutants from a gas stream...
s will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gases:
The Reality Coalition, a nonprofit organization composed of Alliance for Climate Protection, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters, ran a series of television commercials in 2008 and 2009. The commercials were highly critical of clean coal, stating that without capturing emissions and storing it safely that it cannot be called clean coal.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
is a major opponent of the concept because they view emissions and wastes as not being avoided but instead transferred from one waste stream to another.
Prior terminology
Clean coal was an umbrella termUmbrella term
An umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...
used to describe methods that have been developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal-based electricity, which accounts for nearly half of the United States’ electricity supply. These efforts include chemically washing mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s and impurities from the coal, gasification
Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures , without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam...
(see also IGCC), treating the flue gases with steam
Steam
Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
to remove sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
, carbon capture and storage technologies to capture the carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
from the flue gas
Flue gas
Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced at power plants...
and coal de-watering technologies to improve the energy quality and thus the efficiency of burning coal for energy. These methods and the technology used are described as clean coal technologies. Figures from the Environmental Protection Agency show that these technologies have made today’s coal-based generating fleet 77 percent cleaner on the basis of regulated emissions per unit of energy produced.
While the term "clean coal" is today commonly used to describe carbon capture technologies, the earliest use of the term can be traced back to U.S. Senate Bill 911 in April, 1987:
“The term clean coal technology means any technology…deployed at a new or existing facility which will achieve significant reductions in air emissions of sulfur dioxide or oxides of nitrogen associated with the utilization of coal in the generation of electricity.”
It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted a joint program with the industry and State agencies to demonstrate these technologies large enough for commercial use. The program, called the Clean Coal Technology & Clean Coal Power Initiative, has had a number of successes that have reduced emissions and waste from coal-based electricity generation http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/cleancoal/. Moreover, the Program has met regulatory challenges by incorporating nitrogen oxide (NOx) control technologies “into a portfolio of cost-effective regulatory compliance options for the full range of boiler types.” This portfolio has positioned the U.S. as a top exporter of clean coal technologies such as those used for NOx. The DOE continues its programs and initiatives through regional sequestration partnerships, a carbon sequestration leadership forum and the Carbon Sequestration Core Program, a CCS research and development program.
According to a report by the assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, clean coal technology has paid measurable dividends. Technological innovation introduced through the CCT Program now provides consumers cost-effective, clean, coal-based energy.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) control technologies emerging from clean coal technology have moved into the utility and industrial marketplace and now provide cost-effective regulatory compliance. A new generation of advanced coal-based power systems has been placed in commercial service that represents a quantum leap forward in terms of efficiency and environmental performance. These advanced power systems projects will provide a springboard for widespread, global deployment. This in turn will contribute greatly to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The government and industry officials continue to use the term "clean coal" to describe technologies designed to enhance both the efficiency and the environmental acceptability of coal extraction, preparation and use, however today the term “clean coal technology” is usually used in reference to carbon capture and storage, an advanced process that eliminates carbon dioxide emissions from coal-based plants and permanently sequesters them.
In the early 20th century, prior to World War II, clean coal (also called "smokeless coal") referred to anthracite and high-grade bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
, used for cooking and home heating.
See also
- Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate
- BiocharBiocharBiochar or terra preta is charcoal created by pyrolysis of biomass. Biochar is under investigation as an approach to carbon sequestration via bio-energy with carbon capture and storage. Biochar thus has the potential to help mitigate climate change, via carbon sequestration...
- Bio-energy with carbon capture and storageBio-energy with carbon capture and storageBio-energy with carbon capture and storage is a greenhouse gas mitigation technology which produces negative carbon emissions by combining biomass use with geologic carbon capture and storage....
- Carbon Capture and StorageCarbon capture and storageCarbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...
- Carbon sink
- Coal in the United States
- Coal phase outCoal phase outA fossil fuel phase-out are plans for transport electrification, decommissioning of operating fossil fuel-fired power plants and prevention of the construction of new fossil-fuel-fired power stations. The purpose of this is to decrease the high concentration of greenhouse gas emissions, which are...
- Energy developmentEnergy developmentEnergy development is the effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms for supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, mitigation of climate change with renewable energy....
- Energy Policy Act of 2005Energy Policy Act of 2005The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a bill passed by the United States Congress on July 29, 2005, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico...
- Fluidized bed combustionFluidized bed combustionFluidized bed combustion is a combustion technology used in power plants. Fluidized beds suspend solid fuels on upward-blowing jets of air during the combustion process. The result is a turbulent mixing of gas and solids. The tumbling action, much like a bubbling fluid, provides more effective...
- James E. Hansen
- JEA Northside Generating Station (Jacksonville)
- Low carbon power generation
- Mitigation of global warmingMitigation of global warmingClimate change mitigation is action to decrease the intensity of radiative forcing in order to reduce the potential effects of global warming. Mitigation is distinguished from adaptation to global warming, which involves acting to tolerate the effects of global warming...
- Mountaintop removal mining
- Pleasant Prairie Power PlantPleasant Prairie Power PlantPleasant Prairie Power Plant is a base load, coal fired, electrical power station located in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin in Kenosha County. In 2009, it was listed as the largest generating station in Wisconsin with a net summer capacity of 1,210 MW and generates roughly 13% of Wisconsin's...
- Refined coalRefined coalRefined coal is the product of the application of a coal upgrading technology that removes moisture and certain pollutants from lower-rank coals such as sub-bituminous and lignite coals and raising their calorific values. Coal refining or upgrading technologies are typically pre-combustion...
- SyngasSyngasSyngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...
- Waste managementWaste managementWaste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...
- World Coal InstituteWorld Coal InstituteThe World Coal Institute changed its name to World Coal Association in November 2010.The World Coal Association is a non-profit, non-governmental association, funded by coal enterprises and stakeholders....
External links
- Montana PBS Documentary "Dark Energy - The Clean Coal Controversy"
- http://www.coal-is-dirty.com
- Innovative Silesian Cluster of Clean Coal Technologies
- Coal Online - Free information on Clean Coal technology
- BBC News - Clean coal technology: How it works
- Sierra Club on clean coal
- International Energy Agency - Clean Coal Centre
- Research Reports from IEA Clean Coal Centre
- World Coal Institute - Coal: Facts & Figures
- US Department of Energy's clean coal technology web page
- CNNMoney story on clean coal economics
- "Beyond Kyoto" Initiative
- National Energy Technology Laboratory compendium homepage
- World Nuclear Association paper on "Clean Coal" Technologies
- SaskPower Clean Coal Project
- ZeroGen Clean Coal Project
- Air preheater cleaning resulting in better emissions management
- Clean coal facts and figures page by Rising Tide Newcastle
- EU: Large combustion plants air pollution regulation
- The Future of Coal An Interdisciplinary MIT Study
- Jeff Goodell: How Clean Coal Cooks Your Brain
- Coal Plant to Go Online "Christian Science Monitor"
- Georgia Judge Cites Carbon Dioxide in Denying Coal Plant Permit.
- Clean Coal Technologies, Inc.
- Utah Clean Coal Program
- Institute for Clean & Secure Energy
- The Energy Challenge