Introduction
In Australia, Victorian brown coals represent a significant, low cost energy resource with reserves of 430 billion tonnes. However, its utilization is limited to mine-mouth power generation using conventional pulverized coal-fired combustion units at relatively low efficiencies [1]. Therefore, it is necessary to assess and develop alternative utilization techniques for this vast resource, such as gasification. Among different gasifiers, the entrained flow gasifier is attractive for commercial plants because of its feedstock flexibility and clean gas product. However, the technological information on brown coal gasification is limited. There has been one study reporting on pressurized fluidized bed gasification of Victorian brown coals at a pilot scale, but the carbon conversion of Victorian brown coals is quite low[12].
In this study, information on the gasification behaviour of two Victorian brown coals, Yallourn (YL) and Morwell (MW) coal, is reported, including the release of alkali, sulphur, and chlorine spieces, carbon conversion, and gas quality during CO2 gasification. The relation between 100% carbon conversion and residence time was investigated by regasifying the chars after every run of 5-6s residence time. This study generates fundamental information that will be useful for the design of commercial entrained-flow gasifiers using Victorian brown coals.
Experimental
The coal samples used in this study are Yallourn (YL) and Morwell (MW) coal, two
Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water. With all of the talk surrounding nuclear energy, hydropower and biofuels, you might be forgiven for thinking that grimy coal is finally on its way out. On the other hand, coal is no sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution - it generates half of the electricity in the United States and will likely continue to do so as long as it's cheap and plentiful . Clean coal technology seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean. Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal - 92 percent of the U.S. supply - goes into power production .Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity. When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. 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. Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and
Clean coal is proposed as being an emission cleaner form of regular coal, because it reduces the amount of sulfur-dioxide, and nitrogen oxide that is produced by burning coal. It does this by removing impurities from the coal that are contributing to the higher emissions within regular coal, which is created through “clean coal technology”. Clean coal is obtained just like regular coal through either mining it or by mountaintop removal. A technique called coal washing is used to remove impurities, such as sulfur and other unwanted minerals, by washing them in a liquid to remove them.
Imagine a world where the air is always clean, free of pollution. A place where children with asthma need not to worry of the air quality in the inner cities. A world where the energy produced to heat a home, turn on a light bulb, and charge your cellphone is always abundant and affordable. Doesn’t this world sound like a wonderful place? Turns out this world isn’t just a figment of the imagination. In fact, we are on the verge of a technological breakthrough that can take steps towards making this fantasy a reality. What is this innovation? It is Clean Coal Technology.
It implies that it is possible to make coal a fuel source that is free of (or very low in) carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutant emissions. Some of the techniques that would be used to accomplish this 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 value, and thus the efficiency of the conversion into electricity.
The igneous intrusions in the Raton Basin provide a high temperature and pressure environment promotes an increase in generation of gas (Jian and Cheng, 2014). No evidence suggests that the different intrusions within the coal were at different temperatures (Rooper et al., 2006). It has been suggested that the heat from the dikes enhance adsorption and porosity in coals and also increase the trap capacities of gas storage (Jian and Cheng, 2014). Igneous intrusions create safety problems in the mines underground and the gas created could result in the projection and rapid release of gases (Jian and Cheng, 2014).
Nowadays, coal is still one of the greatest used energy to generate power in so many countries. Using coal in electricity generation is 93% in South African, 87% in Poland, 79% in China, 78% in Australia, 45% in USA, 41% in Germany, 58% in Israel etc. (Coal & Electricity) From the data above, even the developed countries use coal to generate power as the main source. In many developed countries, energy generation is still based on coal as a long-term source. In recent years, although there is an increasing number of equipment using gas and wind to generate the power, it is still lower than the proportion of coal-fired power generation. The reason why most countries choose coal as a main source to generate electricity, is that there are many advantages in using coal to generate electricity. First of all, coal is the
The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. When an area is to be mined, topsoil and subsoil are removed from the rock and so is another material, call overburden, to expose the bed of coal. All living plants give solar energy through photosynthesis. When plants die the energy gets out as the plants decay. The whole decaying process gets interrupted which prevents the release of the stored solar energy, then the energy stays locked in the coal. The plant material gets subjected to high temperatures and pressures which causes physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into coal. The formation of peat is the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal. Peat plants is not only the first step for formation but they also capture CO2 itself. There are many effect to the environment when it comes to coal; an example is AMD which stands for Acid mine drainage; it includes the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines. Mines exposed rocks containing pyrite which reacts to water and air to form acid and dissolved iron and can easily wash into rivers and streams. Coal is a huge impact when it comes to hurting our
Coal seam gas (CSG) is mostly composed of methane and is typically attached to coal underground. This gas is released when pressure on the coal seam is reduced by removing water from the seams (Queensland Government, 2014 ). In order to obtain the gas, wells are drilled into the coal seams, bringing water from the coal seams to the surface. This process reduces pressure and allows the gas to be released (Queensland Government, 2014 ). CSG is an important energy resource in Queensland and production of this gas takes up an ever-increasing proportion of Queensland gas use.
“Power plants use flue gas desulfurization equipment, also known as scrubbers, to clean sulfur from the smoke before it leaves their smokestacks. In addition, industry and the U.S. government have cooperated to develop technologies that can remove impurities from coal or that can make coal more energy-efficient so less needs to be burned.” (Coal).
Huntley Colliery has a modern dense medium cyclone and froth flotation type washery to prepare the saleable coal. It is capable of separating the different quality coal products from high grade coking coal and the various grades of steaming coal. Throughput of this plant is rated at 400 tonnes per hour and has worked at an average of one million tonnes per annum on a two shift operation setting.
Coal is currently one of the world’s largest sources of energy. There are different types of coal which are peat, lignite, bituminous and anthracite. Brown coal (lignite) is a combustible sedimentary rock that is found in the layers under the earth. Brown coal is the lowest grade of coal and is soft due to the water content. Since brown coal is high in moisture and is combustive, it was uneconomical to transport, but currently available drying techniques makes it easier to transport. A question that has been raised over the years is whether power stations which use brown coal should be closed.
Antelope Valley receives its coal directly from the neighboring Coteau Freedom Mine. The Kress haulers from the mine directly drop coal into conveyor that run coal both to Antelope Valley Station and Dakota Gasification Plant. Antelope Valley Station takes the smaller chunks of lignite and crushes them down even further. This coal is then transferred using conveyors into the coal silos inside the plant. From here gravity forces the coal down into a pulverizing chamber. Once pulverized, air forces the coal into the boiler.
Coal is a hard, black colored rock-like substance. It is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and varying amount of sulphur. Coal was form as decomposition took place in the absence of oxygen and much of the hydrogen content of the matter was eroded away, leaving a material rich in carbon. The material was compressed over the years by sand and dirt, leaving the form of a carbon known as coal. The different types of coals are Anthracite, bituminous, lignite, peat, coke, and charcoal. Coal is mined out of the ground and used to produce energy. However, they are many deaths, injuries, and sickness involved in mining coal.
After the coal has been removed form the earth, it is still not ready for use; it must first be refined. Coal must first be separated form foreign materials, for example other minerals, to be considered useful to us. One way of doing this is called coal washing. The coal is first crushed into smaller pieces, and then a liquid is used to separate the coal based on density. Coal that is higher in density harbors more ash, so is left behind, whereas low-density coal has contains little ash and is more desirable. Another process to separate coal from foreign materials is call dry-shaling, which works without the use of liquid. After being separated, coal can be processed into coke, and eventually steel. When coal is transported, it can be by means of truck, train, or ship, and can go nearly anywhere. Truck and train transportation are the cheapest forms, particularly train if you are shipping a great amount, and ships are used for overseas transport.
CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas, which mainly comes from the use of fossil fuels. Many people feel that content of CO2 in the atmosphere is the main reason for manmade global warming. The main sources of CO2 emissions involve electricity generation, industrial processes, fumes from transportation and commercial buildings and use. Emissions of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, to the atmosphere are expected to cause even more of a significant change in global climate (Davison, 2007). The main focus to try to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is to reduce the amount that is released from coal-fired power plants. Greenhouse gas emissions that involve the productions of electricity come from natural gas production and coal-fired power plant operations. Natural gas production accounts for twenty-four percent and coal-fired power plant operations accounts for seventy-five percent, while the other one percent is caused by other electricity generation operations. The main reason why coal-fired power plants have a higher percentage of emissions is because the sulfur content of coal is much higher than that of other fossil fuels (Jarmaillo et al., 2007). This proves that there is a great need to find an alternative fossil fuel to use instead of coal. Although coal is easy to mine, transport and process for the electricity generation process, it is also the