So coal. Coal was created through the decomposition of plants that were likely living in swampy areas many many millions of years ago. These plants died and were eventually covered with dirt and rock, thus preserving the energy in the plants, and over millions of years of decomposition, combined with pressure formed coal. Coal is a dark colored usually black or brown, combustible form of rock. Commercially coal is mined and transported to areas where it is processed and used to produce energy. The main types of mines are either surface mines which are basically just large excavations or underground mining which requires digging a tunnel or mine shaft in order to excavate coal stored at depth. There are 4 types of coal and each very in there value based on the amount of carbon the coal contains which in turn effects the amount of energy that can be generated through its combustion. According to the United States Department of Energy, coal is the leading fuel of energy production in the country, accounting for nearly half of all energy produced.
Coal as Energy
Coal is used for many different things from the production of steel, aluminum, paper, and concrete. It is also used to create chemicals such as creosote, fertilizers, aspirins, dyes, soaps, plastics and the list goes on. Another major use of coal is for energy production.
After coal is mined it is then transported to coal fired power plants, where the coal is pulverized, or reduced to a powder for combustion. This helps to increase the speed by which it burns. The coal is then used to heat water turning it to steam. The steam is then pressurized and used to turn turbines which in turn generates electricity. However, in the combustion of coal, many gaseous byproducts and further many non gaseous byproducts are produced and for many years they were done so without any emissions controls. Aside from oil, coal is the most polluting energy source on the planet. These byproducts are what makes coal a problem as far as energy production goes. For the sake of the rest of this blog lets stick to the gaseous byproducts of coal.
The gaseous byproducts of coal combustion include but are not limited to: NOx or nitrogen oxides a precursor to ground level ozone and smog, S02 or sulfur dioxide which has been attributed to the acid rain, mercury which is released in small particles and can stay airborne for up to a year, and CO2 or carbon dioxide which greatly contributes to climate change. There are many other gaseous byproducts all having impacts human health and the environment.
Clean Coal
What is clean coal you might ask. We have all heard it touted about on the news and in the presidential debates but what is it, and does it offer solutions to the problems that coal poses? Well the answer is that clean coal is this fantastic idea that basically applies different technologies to clean or capture emissions that result from the combustion of coal in the energy production process. Clean coal technology is largely centered around the concept of carbon capturing, which is the removal of CO2 from coal emissions and taking that CO2 and storing it underground, permanently. The youtube video below explains how this works and what is required. Basically, captured CO2 is pumped deep below the earths surface in to a permeable rock or soil, where it would be stored. This, in essence, would allow for coal to be utilized as an energy source on into the foreseeable future, without the consequences of contributing to climate change. Here is an article that explain these technologies:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4468076.stm
Coal as Energy
Coal is used for many different things from the production of steel, aluminum, paper, and concrete. It is also used to create chemicals such as creosote, fertilizers, aspirins, dyes, soaps, plastics and the list goes on. Another major use of coal is for energy production.
After coal is mined it is then transported to coal fired power plants, where the coal is pulverized, or reduced to a powder for combustion. This helps to increase the speed by which it burns. The coal is then used to heat water turning it to steam. The steam is then pressurized and used to turn turbines which in turn generates electricity. However, in the combustion of coal, many gaseous byproducts and further many non gaseous byproducts are produced and for many years they were done so without any emissions controls. Aside from oil, coal is the most polluting energy source on the planet. These byproducts are what makes coal a problem as far as energy production goes. For the sake of the rest of this blog lets stick to the gaseous byproducts of coal.
The gaseous byproducts of coal combustion include but are not limited to: NOx or nitrogen oxides a precursor to ground level ozone and smog, S02 or sulfur dioxide which has been attributed to the acid rain, mercury which is released in small particles and can stay airborne for up to a year, and CO2 or carbon dioxide which greatly contributes to climate change. There are many other gaseous byproducts all having impacts human health and the environment.
Clean Coal
What is clean coal you might ask. We have all heard it touted about on the news and in the presidential debates but what is it, and does it offer solutions to the problems that coal poses? Well the answer is that clean coal is this fantastic idea that basically applies different technologies to clean or capture emissions that result from the combustion of coal in the energy production process. Clean coal technology is largely centered around the concept of carbon capturing, which is the removal of CO2 from coal emissions and taking that CO2 and storing it underground, permanently. The youtube video below explains how this works and what is required. Basically, captured CO2 is pumped deep below the earths surface in to a permeable rock or soil, where it would be stored. This, in essence, would allow for coal to be utilized as an energy source on into the foreseeable future, without the consequences of contributing to climate change. Here is an article that explain these technologies:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4468076.stm
Even with carbon capture and sequestration technologies in place coal is not a responsible energy source for large scale energy production. Its dirty, its not renewable, production is environmentally devastating, even with emissions controls coal energy production is more polluting than other conventional energy sources, that and the fact that clean coal technologies are not economically viable and not proven to work. In my opinion, it seems as thought the money spent toward the exploration of these ideas and techniques would be better off spent making a transition to renewable energy sources which are proven to work, and are more economically viable.
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