Clean Coal Technologies
• The expansion of the industrialized system which
requires the generation and use of vast amounts of
electrical energy as well as the increased use of
automobiles, to mention only two examples, have
been the major driving forces behind the expansion of
fossil fuel usage.
• But, in concert with this increased usage, there has
also followed the onset of detrimental side effects.
Emissions of non indigenous chemicals into the
environment or the ejection into the environment of
chemicals that are indigenous but in quantities that
exceed their natural occurrence are major issues
• Emissions resulting from the use of the
various fossil fuels have had deleterious
effects on the environment and promise
further detriment unless adequate curbs are
taken to control not only the nature but also
the amount of gaseous products being
released into the atmosphere. In this respect,
coal is often considered to be a dirty fuel and
is usually cited as the most environmentally
obnoxious of the fossil fuels
• clean coal technologies reduce emissions of several
pollutants, reduce waste, and increase the amount of
energy gained from each ton of coal
• Clean coal technologies seek to reduce harsh
environmental effects by using multiple technologies
• to clean coal and contain its emissions
• They include various chemical and physical treatments
applied pre- or postcombustion and may be broadly
divided into processes relating either to
(1) combustion efficiency or
(2) pollution control
Examples of clean coal technologies
• 1. Gasification
• gasification of coal by burning it in oxygen to produce a
cleaner gaseous fuel known as syngas or synthesis gas
(a mixture mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide
which is comparable in its combustion efficiency to
natural gas.
• This reduces the emissions of sulfur, nitrogen oxides,
and mercury, resulting in a much cleaner fuel
• The resulting hydrogen gas can be used for electricity
generation or as a transport fuel.
• The gasification process also facilitates capture of
carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion effluent
Examples of clean coal technologies
2. Integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC)
• systems combine gasification with a heat
recovery system that feeds a secondary
steam-powered generator, thereby increasing
the power generated from a given amount of
coal. These systems are currently being
employed in many new coal-fired power
plants worldwide.
3. carbon capture and storage [CCS]
• CCS is a technology under development that offers much
higher prospects of emissions reductions than other clean
coal technologies.
• CCS involves capture of carbon dioxide either before or
after combustion of the fuel; transport of the captured
carbon dioxide to the site of storage; and injection of the
carbon dioxide in deep underground reservoirs for long-
term storage
• Many clean coal technologies are being developed with CCS
in mind, for example, concentrating carbon dioxide in the
combustion exhaust to ease the separation and capture of
carbon dioxide
• 4. coal preparation, coal washing
• When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and
other emissions in flue gas. Some clean coal
technologies purify the coal before it burns.
• One type of coal preparation, coal washing,
removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed
coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to
separate and settle (Luttrell et al., 2006).
• 5. Wet scrubbers, or flue gas desulfurization
(FGD) systems
• Other systems control the coal burn to
minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides, and particulates
• 6. Low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners
• reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides, a cause of
ground-level ozone, by restricting oxygen and
manipulating the combustion process
• 6. Electrostatic precipitators
• remove particulates that aggravate asthma and
cause respiratory ailments by charging particles
with an electrical field and then capturing them
on collection plates.
Clean coal combustion technologies
• While some of these concepts are technically viable,
there is no single technology or combination of
technologies that is capable of addressing all of the
environmental or economic challenges likely to arise
from continued dependence on coal as a major source
of energy in the coming decades, underscoring the
need to assemble and prove viable alternatives to
address these challenges over the long term.
• Moreover, viable clean coal technologies also promote
the continued use of coal, thereby offering some
degree of energy security to those countries that are
net oil importers but having plentiful supplies of coal
• Clean coal combustion technologies can reduce
emissions of sulfur oxides (SO), nitrogen oxides
(NO), and other pollutants at various points of
coal use from a mine to a power plant or factory
• Clean combustion refers to optimizing the
process of burning coal, or other fuels, to release
more useful heat and generate fewer harmful
pollutants from the outset, prior to the effects of
any pollution control exhaust post treatment
• Combustion system improvements must therefore
balance nitrogen oxide control with formation of
pollutants resulting from incomplete burning like
carbon monoxide or, in the case of waste combustors,
dioxins and furans.
• The preferred method is to promote more complete
combustion to avoid the formation of a wide range of
organic pollutants, and then to reduce nitrogen oxide
emissions through a combination of effective control
over combustion temperature and exhaust
posttreatment with ammonia or other chemicals to
dissociate nitrogen oxide particles into benign
atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen.
• Thus, there are
(1) precombustion cleaning,
(2) cleaning during combustion,
(3) Postcombustion cleaning, and
(4) cleaning by conversion.