Just some interetsting reading on Clean Coal, imo.
"Increase in coal use requires clean coal technologies
Increases in recent years in fuel prices have lead to a renewed interest in coal power. Coal, abundant worldwide, is relatively inexpensive when compared to other fuels, but coal burning contributes to a large portion of emissions released into the atmosphere. "Clean coal" technologies address these environmental challenges. Solutions range from capturing and burying emissions to coal-fired power station upgrades.
The term "clean coal" refers to the technologies that make coal burning release fewer pollutants. With cleaner coal technologies, coal is burned at a higher temperature, producing more energy, using less coal and producing fewer plant emissions. The National Coal Council, in a report issued in early June, estimated that a one percent increase in efficiency in coal-fired plants would result in a significant drop in greenhouse gases.
Clean coal power plants would burn coal more efficiently and reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The three types of clean coal technologies are combustion, post-combustion and conversion.
Combustion combines coal with other substances in the boiler to improve efficiency and remove impurities. Post-combustion uses "scrubbers" or chemical cleaning to remove dust and ash from coal emissions before they get released into the atmosphere. Conversion uses heat and pressure to convert coal into a gas or liquid that can be further refined, such as in gasification and liquefaction.
In some technologies, the coal is treated before it enters the boiler, so that pollutants are removed before the coal is used. The coal can also be upgraded at the same time, making it a higher quality.
President George W. Bush's Clean Coal Power Initiative provides government co-financing for new coal technologies that can help utilities cut sulfur, nitrogen and mercury pollutants from power plants by nearly 70 percent by the year 2018.
Future plans for clean coal technology include bringing down the cost of CO2 capture, finding better ways to store carbon dioxide, and using lignite drying technology to raise generating efficiency and lower pollution. The FutureGen prototype plant is scheduled to begin operation in 2012 and is expected to demonstrate many of these improvements.
The FutureGen Alliance and the Department of Energy are now evaluating four sites for the FutureGen plant, two in Illinois and two in Texas. Both would feature carbon capture and sequestration as well as near-zero emissions. The site for the test plant is to be chosen this fall."
