1. Coal-Fired Power Plants
Presented By:
Kristin Scheel
Alejandra Kuhn
Brianna Beconovich
Ryan Nester

2. Types of Coal Fossil fuel
It is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock

3. Coal Mining
Surface Mining
Strip Mining
Underground Mining

4. Coal Power Plant Operation
Feedwater
Feedwater used in a steam boiler to transfer heat energy from the fuel burning area to mech. Energy of spinning steam turbine
Boiler
Rectangular furnace, pulverized coal is blown in from fuel nozzles at 4 corners. The coal then burns quickly and forms a fireball at the center (seriously, a fireball!!!).

5. Coal Power Plant Operation
Steam Turbine Generator
Is a series of steam turbines interconnected to each other and then a generator
Steam Condenser
Steam enters from the turbine generator and is pumped into the bottom of the condenser, where pumps recycle the condensed steam from the feedwater
Stack
Releases process emissions.

6. Coal Power Plant Operation

7. Pros of Coal Power Cheap Abundance
Cheaper per unit energy than oil or natural gas
Will continue to be an important global resource
Abundance
Coal is the world’s most abundant fossil fuel
Sufficient reserves for the next 250 years

9. Pros of Coal Power Electricity Economy
Supplying approximately 50% of electricity to the US
Economy
Coal-mining stimulates over one million jobs in the U.S.
Coal contributes over $80 billion annually to the economy

10. Pros of Coal Power Efficiency Safe
Larger power plants are more efficient
38% of the chemical energy is converted to energy
Safe
safest fossil fuel to transport, store and use
scrubbers

11. Cons of Coal Power
Coal-Fired Power Plants are the largest contributor of hazardous air pollutants.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Mercury

12. Effects on the environment and Human health
CO2 ~ carbon dioxide pollution, making energy use the single largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S. and the world
Power plants emit 40% of total U.S. carbon dioxide pollution, the primary global warming pollutant.
Although coal-fired power plants account for just over half of the electricity produced in the U.S. each year, they have been responsible for over 83% of the CO2 pollution since 1990.

13. Effects on the environment and Human health
Sulfur dioxide combined with nitrogen oxide react with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to form acidic compounds, which can mix with natural precipitation and fall to the earth as acid rain.
Sulfur dioxide can also combine with nitrogen oxide and other particles to form particulate matter.
trigger heart attacks and strokes
lead to cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)
respiratory irritation, and worsen asthma.
premature death (Both short-term and long-term exposure)
In the U.S., coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of SO2 pollution (66%)
and the second largest source of NOx pollution.

14. Effects on the environment and Human health
NOx
When nitrogen oxide (chemically) reacts with volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and sunlight ground-level ozone or smog is formed.
An estimated million Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of smog according to the The American Lung Association.

15. Effects on the environment and Human health
Mercury
One of the most dangerous pollutants released into the air through the exhaust system when coal is burned.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest single man-made source of mercury pollution in the U.S.

16. Future of Coal
Economy
US economy relies on coal importation and exportation
The demand for coal usage to provide electricity will continue to grow

17. Future of Coal Clean coal technology
A new generation of coal-burning power plants with energy processes that reduce air emissions and other pollutants.
Clean Air Acts
Coal power plants technology
must adapt to the changing
political climate towards
environmental issues.