Coal-Fired Power Plants

Coal-Fired Power Plants

 

Presented By:

Beresnev Dmitry

Types of Coal

 

•   Fossil fuel
• It is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock

 

Coal Mining

 

• Surface Mining
• Strip Mining
• Underground Mining

       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!!!).

 

       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.

Coal Power Plant Operation

       Pros of Coal      Power

 

•        Cheap
• 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

 

 

       Pros of Coal Power

 

• Electricity
• 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

Pros of Coal  
Power

 

• Efficiency
• 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

       Cons of Coal  Power

 

• Coal-Fired Power Plants are the largest contributor of hazardous air pollutants.

 

•   Sulfur dioxide (SO₂)
•   Nitrogen Oxide (NO_x)
•   Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)
•   Mercury

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

         Effects on the   environment and Human health

 

•         SO₂
• 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)

 

         Effects on the   environment and Human health

 

•       NO_x
• When nitrogen oxide (chemically) reacts with volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and sunlight ground-level ozone or smog is formed.

 

An estimated 140.5 million Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of smog according to the The American Lung Association.

         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.

Future of Coal

 

• Economy
• US economy relies on coal importation and exportation
• The demand for coal usage to provide electricity will continue to grow

 

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.

 

1

 

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.

 

2

 

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.

 

3

 

Coal-fired power plants are the largest single man-made source of mercury pollution in the U.S.