In 2004, a similar group of MIT professors conducted the present study, "The Future of Coal." The purpose of the study is to examine the role of coal in a world where carbon emission limits are adopted to mitigate global warming. A single 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant produces about 3 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.3 The United States produces about 1.5 billion tons per year.
Purpose of the Study
If technology preparation is not done today, future policymakers will face fewer and more difficult choices in responding to climate change. This is a global problem and the ability to embrace a new technological path will be driven by industrial structure and politics in the developed and developing world.
Many qualified groups offered suggestions and analyzes on what policy measures could be adopted. In this regard, we present evaluations of technology adoption in China and India and of public recognition and concern about this problem in the United States.
We chose to focus on what is needed to create technological options with predictable performance and cost characteristics if such policies are adopted. The main goal of this series of MIT energy studies is to identify the different combinations of policy measures and technical innovations that will reduce global emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases by mid-century.
The current study on the future of coal and the previous study on the future of nuclear power discuss two of the most important possibilities.
The Role of Coal in Energy Growth and CO 2 Emissions
By 2050 in the reference scenario (EPPA-Ref Gas Price and Limited Nuclear), 54% of coal use in China is in non-power sectors. The policy of high CO2 prices, China's share of coal consumption in other sectors falls to 12%, while the US.
Coal-Based Electricity Generation
S. CRITERIA POLLUTANT IMPACTS
The largest cause of efficiency reduction observed in CO2 capture for air PC manufacturing (Figures 3.5 and 3.7) is energy. CO2 CAPTURE RETROFITS Retrofitting the IGCC for CO2 capture involves modifications to the gasification/combustion/ core.
Geological Carbon Sequestration
A number of geological reservoirs appear to have the potential to store many hundreds to thousands of gigatons of CO2.6 The most promising reservoirs are porous and permeable rock bodies, typically at depths of about 1 km, at pressures and temperatures where CO2 is in a supercritical phase would be.7. For example, in the US, only three to four sites might be needed to demonstrate and parameterize safe injection. Vichit-Vadakan, “Leakage of CO2 from Abandoned Wells: Role of Cement Corrosion,” in The CO2 Capture and Storage Project (CCP), Part II, D.C.
Coal Consumption in China and India
Capacity expansion in China's electricity sector provides us with the clearest evidence of how energy-related decisions are actually made on the ground. Much of the rest comes in the form of loans from the municipal branches of state-owned banks. Key actors within the central government have become increasingly aware of China's energy vulnerabilities and the urgent need for a more sustainable use of energy resources.
Analysis, Research, Development and Demonstration
We comment on components of the current DOE RD&D program that address important elements related to this goal. Because of the close integration of research and demonstration in the case of sequestration RD&D, these will be considered together. This is analogous to the role of the Advanced Research component of the DOE program.
Public Attitudes Toward Energy, Global Warming, and Carbon Taxes
- Th e American public increasingly recog- nizes global warming as a problem
- Over the past three years, Americans’ will- ingness to pay to solve global warming has
- Today the public views global warming equally compelling as oil dependence as a
- Tying fuel tax increases to income tax re- ductions increases public support for high
Fully half of the American public now ranks global warming at the top of the US. Growing public concern and willingness to pay indicate some optimism that public will to address global warming will soon solidify. This amounts to 10 percent of the public who are unwilling to pay because they consider the claims about global warming to be exaggerated or unfounded.
Findings and Recommendations
In addition, purchased CO2 can act as a CO2 source for sequestration demonstration plants (see recommendation #2). The successful implementation of the presentation program we recommend requires the successful timing of five elements:. A rough estimate of the cost of the entire program is about $5 billion over a ten-year period.
Appendices
Coal Quality
COMPONENT EFFECTS Most of the energy content of coal is associated with the carbon present. For IGCC, sulfur content affects the size of the purification process but has little effect on cost or efficiency[5]. For IGCC plants, coal ash consumes heat energy to melt it, requires more water per unit of carbon in the sludge, increases the size of the ASU, increases the cost per kWe, and reduces the overall generation efficiency.
Electricity Generation Primer
This can be accomplished downstream of the gasifier by direct quenching with water as in GE's full-quench configuration shown in Figure A-3.B.9. With the E-Gas carburettor, high-pressure steam is generated via jet cooling in the second stage of the carburettor. Because the shift reaction requires a lot of steam to drive it, an IGCC unit with CO2 capture uses a direct quench gasifier to maximize steam in the syngas from the gasifier.
![Figure A-3.B.1 shows an advanced, pulverized coal (PC) unit that meets today’s low, per- per-mitted emissions levels [8]](https://thumb-ap.123doks.com/thumbv2/123dok/10746503.0/131.972.134.721.413.800/figure-shows-advanced-pulverized-meets-mitted-emissions-levels.webp)
Electricity Generation Economics: Bases and Assumptions
The results of the reassessment using normalized economic and operating parameters are presented in Tables A-3.C.6 and A-3.C.7 for the PC and CFB and IGCC cases, respectively. From this it is possible to predict the probability of NPV costs for the plant for a given set of conditions for each generation technology. In the early years of the EPA rule, states will be able to meet their budgets solely based on the "co-benefits" of CAIR emissions reductions.
CONTROL Partial fl ue gas desulfurization (FGD) can be accomplished by dry injec- tion of limestone into the duct work just behind the air preheater (50-70% removal), with
Since an ESP is standard on all PC units, it is usually considered part of the cost of the base system. The coal ash contained in the flue gas is removed as fly ash, which must be safely disposed of to prevent toxic metals from flowing into the landfill and back into the environment. SOG CONTROL Partial Flux Gas Desulfurization (FGD) can be accomplished by dry injection of limestone into the working duct immediately after the air preheater (50-70% removal) with.
Incremental costs for an advanced pulverized coal plant to meet today's best proven emissions criteria. Capital costs are for a new build plant, except where noted, and are for a typical plant meeting today's low emission levels; the cost for low calorific value coal will be slightly higher. Estimated incremental costs for an advanced pulverized coal plant to meet future CAIR and CAMR requirements.
CONTROL Commercial processes such as MDEA and Selexol can remove more than 99% of the sulfur so that the syngas has a concentration of sulfur compounds that is less
Retrofi tting Existing Units for CO 2 Capture
Here we consider the problems associated with adapting existing coal-fired power stations for CO2 capture. An ultra-supercritical autogenous reconstruction for CO2 capture had a generation efficiency only 1.8 percentage points lower than the subcritical base case without CO2 capture. On the other hand, CO2 capture designs prefer higher pressure operation (1000 psi), slurry feeding and full quench mode [9].
Coal to Fuels And Chemicals
On the other hand, CO2 capture and sequestration is a necessary, integral part of the synfuels production process. The cost of CO2 avoidance is mainly due to the costs of compression and drying (capital and O&M) of the CO2, which is already separated from the synthesis gas as an integral part of the fuel production process. For the CO2 capture cases, we estimated the cost of CO2 compression and drying equipment from our IGCC data.
Appendices
Unconventional CO 2 Storage Targets
Although there is evidence that some basalt reservoirs are chemically segregated, there is no commercial database or industrial experience predicting the sealing potential of fractured basalts or their response to injection pressure. The rates of the chemical reactions that fix CO2 remain poorly defined, and previous studies of basalt minerals estimate very slow kinetics of reactions.4 Finally, no tested or established monitoring technology exists for basalt formations, and due to the high rate and low porosity for many basalt units it is not clear whether conventional seismic methods could detect a CO2 plume or mineralization. As with basalt storage, carbonic acid will react with iron- and magnesium-rich silicate minerals to form carbonates, effectively binding the CO2 permanently.5 The kinetics of these reactions are extremely slow.
Drinking Water Act of 1974.8 The new standard technique, which is still the most common method of plugging in use today, reduces the mud contamination of cement.9. In the United States, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 created the Underground Injection Control Program (UIC), which requires all underground injection to be authorized by permit and prohibits certain types of injection that pose an imminent and substantial danger to public health.9 The primary objective of UIC is to prevent the movement of contaminants to potential sources of drinking water as a result of injection activities. Wells that do not have a cement plug are most likely shallow wells drilled before the 1930s.
Description and Cost Assumptions for CO 2 Storage Projects
Friedmann, S.J., 2006, The scientific case for large CO2 storage projects worldwide: Where should they go, what should they look like and how much should they cost, 8th Greenhouse Gas Technology Conference, Trondjheim, Norway, Poster session II.
India
Currently, the unmet demand for electricity is 7.6% and the shortfall in peak demand is 10%.4 This does not take into account the fact that 40% of Indian households are not yet electrified or connected to the electricity grid and in the primarily depends on biomass for their energy needs.5. To date, eight of the 28 states have unbundled.8 The legislation opened the electricity sector to private generation and private distribution companies, gave more flexibility to captive power producers, and provided open access to the electric grid. However, the most critical question is: “Can it be implemented successfully?” This is more problematic because Indian bureaucracy presents many obstacles.
Government Assistance to IGCC Plants Without Capture
Indeed, in a regulated environment, cost-based regulation may undermine the incentives of private investors to properly assess the future costs and benefits of investments in alternative generation technologies. If true, the dispute would at least insulate private investors from the future costs of CO2 tariffs, causing them to ignore these potential future costs in their investment evaluations. We believe it is important for the federal government to take some policy action to discourage early investment in coal-fired plants based on the expectation that these plants will be "born" to one degree or another in the future.
