Possible Future Environmental Issues for Fossil Fuel Technologies. Final Report

摘要

The work reported here was carried out for the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy to identify and assess 15 to 20 major environmental issues likely to affect the implementation of fossil energy technologies between 1985 and 2000. The energy technologies specifically addressed are: oil recovery and processing; gas recovery and processing; coal liquefaction; coal gasification (surface); in situ coal gasification; direct coal combustion; advanced power systems; magnetohydrodynamics; surface oil shale retorting; and true and modified in situ oil shale retorting. Environmental analysis of these technologies included, in addition to the main processing steps, the complete fuel cycle from resource extraction to end use. The 16 environmental issues identified as those most likely for future regulatory actions and the main features of, and the possible regulatory actions associated with, each are as follows: disposal of solid waste from coal conversion and combustion technologies; water consumption by coal and oil shale conversion technologies; siting of coal conversion facilities; the carbon dioxide greenhouse effect; emission of polycyclic organic matter (POM); impacts of outer continental shelf (OCS) oil development; emission of trace elements; groundwater contamination; liquefied natural gas (LNG), safety and environmental factors; underground coal mining - health and safety; fugitive emissions from coal gasification and liquefaction - health and safety; boomtown effects; emission of fine particulates from coal, oil and oil shale technologies; emission of radioactivity from the mining and conversion of coal; emission of nitrogn oxides; and land disturbance from surface mining. (ERA citation 04:051060)