Fossil Fuel
Fuels are conveniently classified as solids, liquids, and gaseous fuels. Solid fuels include
peat, wood, and coal and can encompass solid rocket fuels as well as metals. The
earliest fuels used by man were non fossil fuels of wood and oil from plants and fats
from animals.
The origin of coal is not known with certainty. One popular theory claim that coal
originated about 250 million years ago because of the decay of vegetation primarily
from land and swamps and not of marine origin. Bacterial action undoubtedly helped
with the reduction process. The first step following the exclusion of oxygen was the
formation of peat-a slimy mass of rotting organic matter and debris. Under the pressure
of sediments, the peat became dehydrated and hard, forming low grade coal, called
lignite. Under further pressure and time, the reactions of condensation and
consolidation (50-fold decrease in volume) converted the lignite into a higher grade
coal- bituminous coal. A highest-grade coal- anthracite - has the highest percentage of
carbon. Coal, the generic term applied to solid fossil fuels, ranges from lignite, which is
basically a matured or modified peat, to meta-anthracite, which is more than 98 %
carbon. The qualities of different coals are classified in different ways either depending
on the chemical composition, the heating value, or even the ash content and its fusion
temperature.
Analysis of Coal
The elemental analysis of coal, i.e., its C, H, 0, N, S, and ash residue may be important
to a chemist who wishes to use coal as a chemical or source of carbon, but to an
engineer who wants to burn the coal in a heat or power generating plant or a coking
oven other parameter are more important-most notably its heat of combustion,
moisture level, volatile matter, carbon and sulfur content as well as the ash.
This is called the proximate analysis and it is determined as follows:
Moisture Content A sample of coal is ground and weighed. It is dried in an oven at
110°C for one hour and reweighed. The loss in weight represents the moisture content
of the coal.
Volatile Content The coal sample is heated in an inert atmosphere up to 950°C. The
loss in weight varies with the temperature since some of the coal is decomposed into
oils and tars which volatilize at various temperatures.
Ash Content A coal sample is heated in a muffle furnace at 750-900°C in the presence
of air to combust the coal leaving the ash residue which is heated to constant weight. If
the sample of coal is first freed of volatile matter, then the loss in weight represents the
fixed carbon in the coal.
Heat Content This is determined in a bomb calorimeter where a dry sample of coal is
burned in an excess of oxygen and the heat evolved is measured. This is often referred
to as the caloric value or the heat content of the coal. This includes the combustion of
the volatile and tar components as well as the fixed carbon and is therefore related to
the actual heat generating value of the coal. The heat of combustion of pure carbon is
32.8 MJ/kg.
Impurities Trapped Inside Coal
Traces of impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen are trapped inside coal. These
impurities are released into the atmosphere when coal is burned and can combine with
water vapor to form droplets which falls back to Earth as a weak form of sulfuric and
nitric acid, commonly known as acid rain. Apart from impurities, there are also tiny
fragments of minerals and common dirt mixed in coal. The ashes left behind in a coal
combustor are made up of these tiny fragments because they don’t burn. These tiny
fragments also form the smoke that comes out of a coal plant’s smokestack when
caught up in the swirling combustion gases. Like all fossil fuels, coal is formed out of
carbon. When coal burns, its carbon combines with the oxygen in the air to form carbon
dioxide, a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.
The Clean Coal Technology
At present, technologies are available which can filter out about 99 percent of the tiny
impurity fragments as well as removing more than 95 percent of the acid rain
pollutants in coal. Technologies are also available to reduce the amount of carbon
dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning coal more efficiently. A number of
these technologies belong to a family of energy systems referred to as "clean coal
technologies".
How do you make coal cleaner?
One way is to clean the coal before it arrives at the power plant.
One of the ways this is done is by simply crushing the coal into
small chunks and washing it. Some of the sulfur that exists in
tiny specks in coal (called "pyritic sulfur " because it is combined
with iron to form iron pyrite, otherwise known as "fool's gold)
can be washed out of the coal in this manner. Typically, in one
Although coal is primarily a
washing process, the coal chunks are fed into a large water- mixture of carbon (black)
filled tank. The coal floats to the surface while the sulfur and hydrogen (red) atoms,
sulfur atoms (yellow) are
impurities sink. There are facilities around the country called
also trapped in coal,
"coal preparation plants" that clean coal this way. primarily in two forms. In
one form, the sulfur is a
separate particle often
Not all of coal's sulfur can be removed like this, however. Some linked with iron (green)
of the sulfur in coal is actually chemically connected to coal's with no connection to the
carbon atoms, as in the
carbon molecules instead of existing as separate particles. This
center of the drawing. In
type of sulfur is called "organic sulfur," and washing won't the second form, sulfur is
remove it. Several process have been tested to mix the coal chemically bound to the
carbon atoms, such as in
with chemicals that break the sulfur away from the coal the upper left.
molecules, but most of these processes have proven too
expensive. Scientists are still working to reduce the cost of these chemical cleaning
processes.
Most modern power plants — and all plants built after 1978 — are required to have
special devices installed that clean the sulfur from the coal's combustion gases before
the gases go up the smokestack. The technical name for these devices is "flue gas
desulfurization units," but most people just call them "scrubbers" — because they
"scrub" the sulfur out of the smoke released by coal-burning boilers.
How do scrubbers work?
Most scrubbers rely on a very common substance found in nature called "limestone."
We literally have mountains of limestone throughout this country. When crushed and
processed, limestone can be made into a white powder. Limestone can be made to
absorb sulfur gases under the right conditions — much like a sponge absorbs water.
In most scrubbers, limestone (or another similar material called lime) is mixed with
water and sprayed into the coal combustion gases (called "flue gases"). The limestone
captures the sulfur and "pulls" it out of the gases. The limestone and sulfur combine
with each other to form either a wet paste (it looks like toothpaste!), or in some newer
scrubbers, a dry powder. In either case, the sulfur is trapped and prevented from
escaping into the air.
The Clean Coal Technology Program tested several new types of scrubbers that proved
to be more effective, lower cost, and more reliable than older scrubbers. The program
also tested other types of devices that sprayed limestone inside the tubing (or
"ductwork') of a power plant to absorb sulfur pollutants.
Knocking the NOx Out of Coal
Nitrogen is the most common part of the air we breathe. In
How NOx Forms
fact, about 80% of the air is nitrogen. Normally, nitrogen
atoms float around joined to each other like chemical couples.
But when air is heated - in a coal boiler's flame, for example -
these nitrogen atoms break apart and join with oxygen. This
forms "nitrogen oxides" - or, as it is sometimes called, "NOx"
(rhymes with "socks"). NOx can also be formed from the
atoms of nitrogen that are trapped inside coal.
In the air, NOx is a pollutant. It can cause smog, the brown
haze you sometimes see around big cities. It is also one of Air is mostly nitrogen
the pollutants that forms "acid rain." And it can help form molecules (green in the
above diagram) and oxygen
something called "groundlevel ozone," another type of
molecules (purple). When
pollutant that can make the air dingy. heated hot enough (around
3000 degrees F), the
NOx can be produced by any fuel that burns hot enough. molecules break apart and
Automobiles, for example, produce NOx when they burn oxygen atoms link with the
nitrogen atoms to form NOx,
gasoline. But a lot of NOx comes from coal-burning power an air pollutant.
plants, so the Clean Coal Technology Program developed new
ways to reduce this pollutant.
One of the best ways to reduce NOx is to prevent it from forming in the first place.
Scientists have found ways to burn coal (and other fuels) in burners where there is
more fuel than air in the hottest combustion chambers. Under these conditions, most of
the oxygen in air combines with the fuel, rather than with the nitrogen. The burning
mixture is then sent into a second combustion chamber where a similar process is
repeated until all the fuel is burned.
This concept is called "staged combustion" because coal is burned in stages. A new
family of coal burners called "low-NOx burners" has been developed using this way of
burning coal. These burners can reduce the amount of NOx released into the air by
more than half. Today, because of research and the Clean Coal Technology Program,
approximately 75 percent of all the large coal-burning boilers in the United States will
be using these types of burners.
There is also a family of new technologies that work like "scrubbers" (> see the
previous page) by cleaning NOx from the flue gases (the smoke) of coal burners. Some
of these devices use special chemicals called "catalysts" that break apart the NOx into
non-polluting gases. Although these devices are more expensive than "low-NOx
burners," they can remove up to 90 percent of NOx pollutants.
But in the future, there may be an even cleaner way to burn coal in a power plant. Or
maybe, there may be a way that doesn't burn the coal at all.
A "Bed" for Burning Coal?
A Fluidized Bed Boiler
It was called a "fluidized bed boiler." In a typical coal boiler,
coal would be crushed into very fine particles, blown into the
boiler, and ignited to form a long, lazy flame. Or in other
types of boilers, the burning coal would rest on grates. But in
a "fluidized bed boiler," crushed coal particles float inside the
boiler, suspended on upward-blowing jets of air. The red-hot
mass of floating coal — called the "bed" — would bubble and
tumble around like boiling lava inside a volcano. Scientists
call this being "fluidized." That's how the name "fluidized bed
boiler" came about. In a fluidized bed boiler,
upward blowing jets of air
Why does a "fluidized bed boiler" burn coal cleaner? suspend burning coal, allowing
it to mix with limestone that
There are two major reasons. One, the tumbling action absorbs sulfur pollutants.
allows limestone to be mixed in with the coal. Remember
Limestone is a sulfur sponge — it absorbs sulfur pollutants. As coal burns in a fluidized
bed boiler, it releases sulfur. But just as rapidly, the limestone tumbling around beside
the coal captures the sulfur. A chemical reaction occurs, and the sulfur gases are
changed into a dry powder that can be removed from the boiler. (This dry powder —
called calcium sulfate— can be processed into the wallboard we use for building walls
inside our houses.)
The second reason a fluidized bed boiler burns cleaner is that it burns "cooler." Now,
cooler in this sense is still pretty hot — about 750 oC. But older coal boilers operate at
temperatures nearly twice that (almost 1650 oC). Remember NOx forms when a fuel
burns hot enough to break apart nitrogen molecules in the air and cause the nitrogen
atoms to join with oxygen atoms. But 750 oC isn't hot enough for that to happen, so
very little NOx forms in a fluidized bed boiler.
The result is that a fluidized bed boiler can burn very dirty coal and remove 90% or
more of the sulfur and nitrogen pollutants while the coal is burning. Fluidized bed
boilers can also burn just about anything else — wood, ground-up railroad ties, even
soggy coffee grounds.
Today, fluidized bed boilers are operating or being built that are 10 to 20 times larger
than the small unit built almost 20 years ago.
A new type of fluidized bed boiler makes a major improvement in the basic system. It
encases the entire boiler inside a large pressure vessel, much like the pressure cooker
used in homes for canning fruits and vegetables — except the ones used in power
plants are the size of a small house!
Burning coal in a "pressurized fluidized bed boiler" produces a high-pressure stream of
combustion gases that can spin a gas turbine to make electricity, then boil water for a
steam turbine — two sources of electricity from the same fuel!
A "pressurized fluidized bed boiler" is a more efficient way to burn coal. In fact, future
boilers using this system will be able to generate 50% more electricity from coal than a
regular power plant from the same amount of coal.
Because it uses less fuel to produce the same amount of power, a more efficient
"pressurized fluidized bed boiler" will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (a
greenhouse gas) released from coal-burning power plants.
"Pressurized fluidized bed boilers" are one of the newest ways to burn coal cleanly. But
there is another new way that doesn't actually burn the coal at all.
The Cleanest Coal Technology - a Real Gas!
Don't think of coal as a solid black rock. Think of it as a mass of atoms. Most of the
atoms are carbon. A few are hydrogen. And there are some others, like sulfur and
nitrogen, mixed in. Chemists can take this mass of atoms, break it apart, and make
new substances - like gas!
The carbon atoms join with oxygen that is in the air (or pure oxygen can be injected
into the vessel). The hydrogen atoms join with each other. The result is a mixture of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen - a gas.
Coal Gasification?
You can burn it and uses the hot combustion gases to spin a gas turbine to generate
electricity. The exhaust gases coming out of the gas turbine are hot enough to boil
water to make steam that can spin another type of turbine to generate even more
electricity. But why go to all the trouble to turn the coal into gas if all you are going to
do is burn it?
A major reason is that the impurities in coal - like sulfur, nitrogen and many other trace
elements - can be almost entirely filtered out when coal is changed into a gas (a
process called gasification). In fact, scientists have ways to remove 99.9% of the sulfur
and small dirt particles from the coal gas. Gasifying coal is one of the best ways to
clean pollutants out of coal.
Another reason is that the coal gases - carbon monoxide and hydrogen - don't have to
be burned. They can also be used as valuable chemicals. Scientists have developed
chemical reactions that turn carbon monoxide and hydrogen into everything from liquid
fuels for cars and trucks to plastic toothbrushes!
Coal gasification could be one of the most promising ways to use coal in the future to
generate electricity and other valuable products. Yet, it is only one of an entirely new
family of energy processes called "Clean Coal Technologies" - technologies that can
make fossil fuels future fuels.
Integrated Gasification Combine cycle (IGCC)
Coal gasification technology, often referred to as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), is
the process of gasifying coal to produce electricity. The coal is gasified by burning finely-crushed
coal in an environment with less than half the amount of oxygen needed to fully burn the coal.
Essentially, the coal is not burned directly but undergoes a reaction with oxygen and steam. This
produces what is known as synthetic gas or “syngas.” This gas is then combusted in a combined
cycle generator to produce electricity. The technology integrates the production of purified gas and
the production of electricity. In terms of environmental benefits, the technology reduces emissions of
sulphur dioxide, particulates and mercury, as well as of carbon dioxide, in particular when combined
with carbon capture and storage.
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology can reach a higher efficiency rate than
typical coal combustion technologies, such as sub-, super- and even ultra-supercritical combustion.
Where the latter can reach efficiencies of between 30 to 45%, IGCC plants could achieve an
efficiency rate of higher than 45%. The latter is achieved by combining the two cycles of firing the
coal gas and using the residual heat to produce electricity. The technology contains the following
steps.
First, coal is gasified by creating a ‘shortage’ of air/oxygen in a closed pressurised reactor. This
creates a chemical reaction of the coal with the oxygen. The product from this process is a mixture
of carbon and hydrogen (CO + H2), which is also called synthesis gas or syngas or fuel gas. The
syngas is subsequently cleaned and burned with either pure oxygen or air. This creates a
superheated steam with which electricity is generated. The residual heat from this process is cooled
down which creates another stream of steam to produce electricity. Efficiency of IGCC could be
further increased if the process of purifying the syngas (removing of particulates and sulphur) could
be done at higher temperatures. Currently, purification takes place at relatively low temperatures
(around 50 oC), but techniques to clean at temperatures of around 500-600oC are tested. This could
increase the overall efficiency of IGCC to over 60%. IGCC plants can also be configured to facilitate
CO2 capture before the combustion of the syngas. In this process, the syngas is ‘shifted’ using
steam to convert CO to CO2, which is then separated for possible long-term sequestration. This
means that an IGCC power plant combined with carbon storage technologies can be completely
carbon emission free. An example of a zero emission power and chemical plants which combines
gasification with CO2 capture and storage can be found in Kedzierzyn in Poland.
Figure 1: Overview of IGCC process: integrating gasification with combined cycle technology
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/images/igcc_flow_diagram.gif
Feasibility of technology and operational necessities:
The operational process of electricity production in an IGCC plant contains of the following steps:
1. Coal is transported to the installation where it is pulverized and dried.
2. The pulverized coal is gasified and the ash in the feedstock is recovered as marketable slag.
3. The gas is purified, among others by washing it with water. This water needs to be cleaned
so that it can be re-used.
4. Almost all of the poisonous hydrogen sulphide is removed from the syngas and purified to
sulphur. A small part of the sulphur is emitted in to the air.
5. The syngas is prepared (thinning and saturation) for combustion in the gas turbine, which
starts rotating. The exhaust gases are cooled and the residual heat used for steam to drive
the steam turbine.
6. The electricity production is the output from the gas- and steam turbine.
