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| Cleaner coal |
| Burning coal produces carbon dioxide gas. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to enhancing the greenhouse effect, which is heating up our planet. Should Australians continue to produce electricity from coal-fired power plants? The Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Coal in Sustainable Development (CCSD), with support from the Center for Coal Utilization, Japan (CCUJ), is working with Japanese technology developers Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd (IHI) to reduce CO2 emissions from burning coal. They are testing and evaluating advanced technologies such as oxy-fuel combustion, combined with the capture and storage of CO2 emissions. Oxy-fuel combustion burns coal using oxygen and replacing the nitrogen normally in air with recycled flue gas (gases emitted from the combustion process). It produces a much smaller volume of gas concentrated in CO2 from the boiler exhaust. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 50 to 100% using oxy-fuel combustion if, at the same time, such CO2 gas emissions are captured and stored. Oxy-fuel technology can be fitted to existing power plants providing an opportunity to reduce the emissions from the existing plant and significant cost benefits over building a totally new plant. A feasibility study currently in progress, is considering a power station to test oxy-firing technology in Queensland, Australia. The project, led by the CCSD in partnership with CCUJ in Japan, aims to retrofit the boiler with oxygen production and CO2 capture technologies, test a range of local coals, and store the residual CO2 using geo-sequestration—a process where CO2 is stored in rock beds more than 800 metres below ground. ‘This project is an achievement of true collaboration between Australian and Japanese engineers and scientists’ says CCSD CEO Frank van Schagen. Contact in Australia: Mr Frank van Schagen, CRC for Coal in Sustainable Development, Australia Email: Frank.vanSchagen@ccsd.biz Website: http://www.ccsd.biz Ph: +61 7 3871 4400 Fax: +61 7 3871 4444 Contact in Japan: Prof. Keiji Makino, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co.Ltd (IHI), Ishikawa Email: Keiji_makino@ihi.co.jp Ph: +81-3-3244-5109 Fax: +81-3-3244-5313 Contact in Japan: Mr Matsuo Kato, The Center for Coal Utilization, Tokyo English Website: http://www.ccuj.or.jp/index-e.htm Japanese Website: http://www.ccuj.or.jp/index.htm Ph: +81-3-3359-2256 Fax: +81-3-3359-2280 |
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