r&d for coal power in a carbon-constrained world
DESCRIPTION
I gave this short presentation on March 5, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC at the request of four US Senators who wanted to highlight the research that is needed to maintain coal as a competitive option for power generation while reducing its CO2 emissions.TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Jeffrey N. Phillips
Senior Program Manager, Advanced Generation
Clean Coal Symposium
March 5, 2014
Technologies for coal power in a
carbon constrained world
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Coal Power is “Old Technology”
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But Old Technology …
Henry Ford’s car of
the 1910s
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…Can Improve
Henry Ford’s car of the
1910s
Elon Musk’s car of the
2010s
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Emissions from North American Coal
Power Plants (Dates represent year plant began operating)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1921 1960 2012 Boundary Dam
Kemper IGCC
SO2 NOx CO2
CO
2 kg
/MW
hr
SO
2 o
r N
Ox,
kg/M
Whr
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Advanced Coal Power
Power
Generation CO2 Capture MW
Coal
Storage
CO2
Where Are The Opportunities For Improvement?
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Advanced Coal Power
Power
Generation CO2 Capture MW
Coal
Storage
CO2
•Make this more efficient, less
costly
•Consider completely new
power generation cycles
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Advanced Low Rank Coal Power
Power
Generation CO2 Capture MW
Brown Coal
Storage
CO2
•Make this more efficient, less
costly
•Current technologies use 2.5-3
times theoretical minimum energy
to capture & compress CO2
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Advanced Low Rank Coal Power
Power
Generation CO2 Capture MW
Brown Coal
Storage
CO2
•Make this less costly to find
•Prove that it is permanent &
safe
10 © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Conclusion
• “Old coal” can be, and has been, improved
• Significant reductions in CO2 emissions will increase costs
of coal power if current technology is used
• In order to make coal power competitive while lowering
CO2 emissions, improvements are needed:
– In power generation systems
– In CO2 capture systems
– In finding safe and permanent options for CO2 storage
You cannot improve by standing still, it takes work