5.0 Fuels: Coal Frank R. Leslie, B. S. E. E., M. S. Space Technology, LS IEEE 1/25/2010, Rev (321) In memory of the perished miners of Sago and Melville, West Virginia January, 2006

In Other News... Tax credit for wind turbines at $1000/kW up to $4000/kW as part of bailout package [ Auto CAFÉ standards: Obama directs EPA to assess individual states adopting CA standards “Clean Coal” still funded at a demonstration site in IL

Overview Romans in England used coal about A.D.  Previously, only wood and peat were burned Coal is the predominant fuel, but is not renewable We are consuming fuel that took millions of years to form China loses some 50k to 60k miners a year! Jevon’s Paradox states that conservation of a fuel (say coal) will increase its consumption as it becomes cheaper  Price will fall, and longer-term demand increases

5.0 About This Presentation 5.1 History 5.2 Fuel Sources and Preparation 5.3 Coal Transportation 5.4 Energy Content 5.5 Estimated Reserves 5.6 Coal Usage 5.7 Coal Combustion and Gasification 5 Conclusion

5.1 History Romans used coal some 2000 years ago The US Hopi Indians burned coal about 1300 B.C.E. Explorers “discovered” US coal in 1673 The English used coal ~1700 as it burned hotter and cleaner than charcoal In 1740s, coal mines were started in Virginia In 1785, coal coke replaced charcoal for steel-making In 1820, the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal began moving coal In 1880s, electricity was generated using coal and steam stationary engines at Edison’s Pearl Street Station in Manhattan (But first hydroelectric plant at Appleton WI 1882) Ref.: Wikipedia.com

5.1.1 Energy Consumption Relations Consumption is a indicator of affluence, or possibly just cheap available energy If you use as much energy as possible, you will achieve a very high annual income! (or could that be backwards?! Correlation?)

5.2 Sources and Fuel Preparation Coal is obtained by  Deep-mining Tunneling to follow a surface seam Boring to penetrate surface burden to reach it  Strip-mining Removing the surface burden of soil Excavating the coal Replacing the surface burden to make a lake or park

5.2.1 US Coal Regions

5.2.2 Fossil Fuels are Limited Ref.: National Energy Technology Lab. Why Combustion? CD_ROM

5.2.3 Underground mining is hazardous Ref.: Cave-ins and explosion of methane cause ~33 US deaths (2007) and many injuries each year “Long-wall” mining can produce coal quickly and inexpensively  Pillars left to hold up the roof Is all the cost of mining death, injury, and disease in the price of coal?

5.2.4 Strip Mining at Consol Coal

5.2.5 Mining productivity increased by machines

5.3 Coal Transportation Classically, trains move coal from the mine to the point of use Now, coal is often burned in mine- head power plants and is carried directly there from the mine to the boiler pile by conveyor belts Ships also move coal in ~50,000 ton amounts Pipelines are used to move an Orimulsion coal slurry (mixed with water) to the end, where water separation occurs  Is the water clean? Where does it go?

5.3.1 Coal Transportation Prices Cl

5.4 Energy Content and Selection Peat, dried Btu/lb Lignite Btu/lb Bituminous Coal Btu/lb Coal, General Btu/lb Anthracite Coal Btu/lb Ref.: Zerban and Nye, 1952 What’s wanted is heat, so the Btu/$ is more useful

5.4 Energy Price per Million Btus Coal is cheapest, then natural gas, and fuel oil is highest

5.5 Estimated Reserves and How They are Estimated In 1955, reserves of coal and lignite were estimated at 3000 billion tons US coal consumption was then 500 million tons per year It would then last 3000 billion/500 million = 6,000 years So what’s the problem? In 2004, US recoverable reserves were estimated at 267,312 million short tons In 2004, US consumption was 1112 million short tons, or 240 years remaining! The cost increases as coal becomes more difficult to mine, so consumption may decrease, extending the time remaining Economic recovery of coal limits the possible amount that can be mined (if more energy is required to mine the coal than can be gotten from that coal, it’s not worth it! EROEI: energy return on energy investment)

5.6 Coal provided 54% of US electricity in

5.6.1 Coal Predominates in Electricity Generation

5.6.2 Coal Advantages and Disadvantages Coal is cheap and is estimated to last another years (depending upon who estimates)  Reserves/consumption = years to go  Rising price in between will decrease consumption  Remaining coal will last longer Coal firing has produced excessive pollution in the past but is now cleaner “Clean Coal” technologies clean the coal to remove sulfur, remove stack fly ash, and process the fumes to remove 95% of NO x and ~80% of mercury Coal requires processing to wash some sulfur out before burning it [Where do we put the wash water?]

5.6.3 Coal Pollution is Decreasing

5.6.4 Gasification Combined Cycle

5.7.1 Oxygen fires the boiler without N 2 present

5.7.2 Coal Gasification If oxygen is separated out of the air, it can be used to partially combust the coal to produce a burnable gas When oxygen is used instead of air (contains nitrogen), NO 2 cannot be formed Outputs are high pressure steam and “syngas” There is some residual slag that can be buried or used in roadbed construction D:\TOPICAL\topical21.pdf

5 Conclusion Coal will last ~a hundred years longer than oil or NG or nuclear (uranium ore is depletable too) Coal will continue to be a primary fuel close to coal mines Coal is most suited to fixed energy plants; while mobile use requires oil, gasoline, or natural gas Coal is relatively cheap, so we use a lot of it Combustion requires antipollution processing, and sequestration is being developed to capture CO2 Coal may be the replacement for oil, since synoil can be made Some people don’t want cleaner coal energy since more coal would be mined

References: Books Zerban, Alexander H. and Edwin P. Nye. Power Plants. Scranton: International Textbook Co., Brower, Michael. Cool Energy. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, , TJ807.9.U6B76, ’4’0973. Duffie, John and William A. Beckman. Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes. NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 920 pp., 1991 Sørensen, Bent. Renewable Energy, Second Edition. San Diego: Academic Press, 2000, 911 pp. ISBN

References: Websites, etc. 15-CT Why Combustion? search Ref.: National Energy Technology Lab. “Why Combustion?” CD_ROM Coal history site DOE D:\TOPICAL\topical21.pdf _____________________________________________________________________________ ___ Site devoted to the decline of energy and effects upon population Federal Energy Regulatory Commission solstice.crest.org/ dataweb.usbr.gov/html/powerplant_selection.html

Olin Engineering Complex 4.7 kW Solar PV Roof Array Questions?

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