Clean Coal Could be the Solution to Global Warming

February 22, 2013 | Filed under: New Energy News | Posted by: admin

Clean coal and global warming.

The damaging effects that result from burning coal may soon be nonexistent. It took scientists from Ohio State University 15 years and $5 million, but the clean coal technique has finally been developed. They have discovered a way to obtain the energy from coal without actually burning it, eliminating nearly all of the pollution.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), “Coal emits sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and heavy metals (such as mercury and arsenic) and acid gases (such as hydrogen chloride), which have been linked to acid rain, smog, and health issues. Coal also emits carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.” Even with so many harmful side-effects, the U.S. continues get a large amount of its energy from coal, roughly 20 percent. Well enough is enough. It is time to embrace the clean coal technique.

Eliminating 99 percent of the pollution from coal, the Coal-Direct Chemical Looping (CDCL) technique will have a significant impact on the rate of global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency has found that in 2010, coal-burning power plants were responsible for about one-third of the country’s carbon dioxide, equivalent to 2.3 billion metric tons. If energy can be obtained from coal without burning it, this number should drop considerably.

Liang-Shih Fan, a chemical engineer and director of Ohio State’s Clean Coal Research Laboratory, explains the process, “We found a way to release the heat without burning. We carefully control the chemical reaction so that the coal never burns–it is consumed chemically, and the carbon dioxide is entirely contained inside the reactor.” The metal from the iron-oxide is recyclable and the only waste products are coal ash and water. If everything goes according to plan, Fan is confident that his discovery can be used to power energy plants within the next 10 years.

Research Associate Dawei Wang shared his thoughts regarding the benefits of this technology, “The commercial-scale CDCL plant could really promote our energy independence. Not only can we use America’s natural resources such as Ohio coal, but we can keep our air clean and spur the economy with jobs.”

President Obama is already in complete support for the development of clean coal. In 2011, he declared his goal of generating 80 percent of the nation’s energy from clean sources, including clean coal. The following year, he summarized the “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, which also incorporated clean coal technologies.

Although the President is on board for clean coal development, two liberal senators recently introduced a bill that would put an end to Obama’s research and development for this safe alternative. Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Bernie Sanders are attempting to eliminate The Energy Department’s Office of Fossil Energy Research and Development under the Sustainable Energy Act. Although many believe that the legislation will not pass Congress, nothing is for certain just yet.

With the level of carbon emissions spiraling out of control, our nation is in desperate need of a solution. As of right now, the CDCL seems to be the only logical answer to reducing the current rate of global warming without completely eliminating the use of coal, one of the nation’s primary sources of energy.

Sarah Battaglia
Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc.

Sarah can be found on LinkedIn and Google+.

6 Responses to Clean Coal Could be the Solution to Global Warming

15 years to identify a symptom? They should have been looking at root cause. It’s not only coal that produces CO2 and other gases. Now a better solution would be to create a catalyst that breaks the chemical bonds of CO2 like U.S. Patent 8,114,693

Bob
February 27, 2013 at 1:28 pm
This sounds great Sarah, but where are the numbers on how it can compete with natural gas economics?

Gregg Reulbach
February 27, 2013 at 1:41 pm
“… the carbon dioxide is entirely contained inside the reactor.” Wow, is that the magical expanding reactor?

Sorry Sarah, that is unfair. I don’t know how the Ohio State guys are going to contain the CO2, but I expect that it will be something like the sequestering efforts already proposed. That will create huge amounts of whatever is produced to contain all the CO2 that will come out of the combustion process.

As I see it, we are in the unenviable position of trying to release the hydrogen that Mother Nature stored up in all our coal (and oil and gas and tar) reserves, while leaving the carbon (and nitrogen and sulphur and metals and chlorine, etc.) in the ground. It is not an easy process to imagine, I just hope that there is a complete solution. Generally speaking, coal close to the surface is easier to mine than it is to go kilometers deep for as-yet unfound oil and gas or for the geothermal heat that is way down there. But I also worry about all these caverns that we are making and that are prone to collapse (earthquakes and land subsidance) when the props weaken and fail.

So, now I guess somebody will rebut my thoughts with stacks of data and reports of studies about this and that. Well, go for it, but remember, it will take facts that fit together, not just a huge pile of data, to convince me that this new discovery will function. For me, coal is dirty before it comes out of the ground (just take a look at a miner’s face if you don’t beleve that), and it doesn’t get any cleaner just because we want it to.

Craig Hesser
February 28, 2013 at 2:26 pm
Thanks for your input gentlemen. Although I do not know all of the specific facts on how this process works, I invite you to read this article on Fox News which will further explain the procedure and its effects.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/02/20/coal-cleanest-energy-source-there-is/

Sarah Battaglia
February 28, 2013 at 3:16 pm
- Perhaps, Sarah, the discussions in Linked-In should be wrapped up now. I have said so there as well.
  
  Peter Hurrell
  March 7, 2013 at 4:42 pm
There is no such thing as clean coal. I’m all for research, but haven’t forgotten that in the 1970′s the government spend BILLIONS on clean coal research to no avail.

Anna Carter
March 7, 2013 at 12:45 pm

Clean Coal Could be the Solution to Global Warming

6 Responses to Clean Coal Could be the Solution to Global Warming

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