PROGRAM TOPIC: 2. CLEAN COAL DEMONSTRATION AND COMMERCIAL PROJECTS

摘要

The burning of coal for electrical power generation is increasingly being demonized around the world in favour of renewables despite their frailty in the absence of large-scale economic storage solutions. However, an Australian technology configuration has been identified that by a relatively simple retrofit, can reduce emissions from coal fired power stations by up to 99.8%. The technology removes SOx, NOx and practically all the particulates in the flue gas from the power station and feeds it to a slightly modified gas turbine which concentrates the CO_2 and increases the net power to the grid. The increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the turbine exhaust, in turn, reduces the energy demand of downstream carbon capture, thereby not only increasing overall system efficiency compared to alternative configurations that capture the CO_2 from separate or combined exhaust gas streams but also reduces the size and therefore cost of the capture plant. Although the technology can be applied to new facilities, its immediate benefit is seen as the acceptable prolongation of coal fired power at least in the short to medium term. In addition, since the application of carbon capture technology has been largely limited to applications such as enhanced oil recovery, the additional electrical power and reduced costs of capture have the potential to reduce the costs of enhanced oil recovery, thus further showcasing the beneficial use of coal.