Environmental Benefits of Clean Coal Technologies

The Clean Coal Technology (CCT) Demonstration Program is a government and industry co-funded effort to demonstrate a new generation of innovative coal utilization processes in a series of facilities built across the country. These projects are carried out on a commercial scale to prove technical feasibility and provide the information required for future commercial applications. The goal of the CCT Program is to furnish the marketplace with a number of advanced , more efficient coal-based technologies that meet strict environmental standards. These technologies minimize the economic and environmental barriers that limit the full utilization of coal. Beginning in 1985, a multi-phased effort consisting of five separate solicitations was administered by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory. The CCT Program has successfully demonstrated a number of coal utilization technologies that are being applied commercially with beneficial results to the environment and increased efficiency in the use of energy. A major criticism of coal as a fuel source for power generation is that it produces large amounts of pollutants, primarily sulfur dioxide (SO 2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM), as well as carbon dioxide (CO 2), which is implicated in global climate change. This report summarizes the contributions of the CCT Program in achieving significant reductions in emissions of these pollutants. Uncontrolled SO 2 emissions from U.S. coal-burning power plants could exceed 20 million tons/yr. As a result of controls already in place, SO 2 emissions have been reduced to about 12 million tons/yr. If CCT-developed technologies were applied to all coal-fired boilers, it is estimated that SO 2 emissions could be further reduced by another 10 million tons/yr. Total NOx emissions from coal-fired boilers are about 6.8 million tons/yr, equivalent to an emissions rate of 0.75 lb/million Btu. If average NOx emissions were reduced to 0.35 lb/million Btu, a goal easily reached using demonstrated technologies, total NOx emissions would be reduced by an additional 3.6 million tons/yr to approximately 3.2 million tons/yr. CCT Program successes include: • Advanced technologies that have dramatically improved the economic and environmental performance of flue gas desulfurization systems for SO 2 control. By-product gypsum is now recovered for sale as wallboard, thereby eliminating a major waste disposal problem. • NOx reduction technologies that have been or are being retrofitted to a large segment of the nation's coal-fired power generating capacity. Low-NOx burners now cost a fraction of the cost of …