The results are reported of an energy analysis of a biomass/coal co-firing based power generation system, carried out to investigate the impacts of biomass co-firing on system performance. The power generation system is a typical pulverized coal-fired steam cycle unit, in which four biomass fuels (rice husk, pine sawdust, chicken litter, and refuse derived fuel) and two coals (bituminous coal a...

One day in my life concerning coal quality has struck me more than most. We asked a group of utility and power plant people what properties of coal they liked and what caused them concern. As each person provided their response you could see that each had their own view. Some wanted dustless coal, others coal that has good flow through chutes. Many wanted large, lumpy coals, the engineers wante...

Based on techniques of close upper protective coal-rock layer mining, relieved gas extraction, and underground gangue washing-discharging-backfilling, this paper initiates the concept of mixed fully-mechanized coal mining, which combines a solid backfilling method and a caving method (hereinafter referred to as “backfill and caving mixed mining”). After the principle and key techniques are intr...

A set of key issues pertaining to the environmental performance of geothermal electric power have been addressed. They include: 1) greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from geothermal facilities, 2) the use of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a geofluid for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), 3) quantifying the impact of well field exploration on the life cycle of geothermal power, and finally ...

Studies conducted on surface coal mining equipment have identified whole-body vibration as a significant hazard. Operators of underground mobile equipment, particularly shuttle cars and transport vehicles, are likely to be exposed to significant levels of whole-body vibration. To date, measuring whole-body vibration from underground mining mobile equipment has been difficult due to the strict g...

Five acidophilic protozoa (three flagellates, one ciliate and one amoeba) were isolated from acid mine water and a coal biotreatment plant, and grown in mixed cultures with acidophilic bacteria. Cultures were routinely maintained in ferrous sulphate media: in media containing pyrite or pyritic coal, protozoa grew in cultures containing coarse-grain (61-200 pm) but not fine-grain (c 61 pm) miner...

The key threat to reliability and prices is the exit of coal plants at short notice. The risk of such exits has been demonstrated most recently through the Hazelwood closure in VIC where five months’ notice is all that was available. None of the key modellers (including AEMO) predicted it. If anything, the risk of sudden exit is rising as the coal plant fleet is ageing, the economics of coal pl...

As of 1998, electric utility companies burning coal or oil are required to report their annual releases of toxic chemicals to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a national compilation of multimedia (air, water, land) releases of over 600 chemicals and chemical categories designated as toxic by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). TRI reports for 1998 must be filed with EPA by July 1...