| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C532856/1 |
| Title: |
Development of a Process for the Production of Ultra Clean Coal |
| Principal Investigator: |
Steel, Dr K |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Sch of Chemical and Environmental Eng |
| Organisation: |
University of Nottingham |
| Scheme: |
First Grant Scheme Pre-FEC |
| Starts: |
29 June 2005 |
Ends: |
28 October 2007 |
Value (£): |
126,162
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Coal Technology |
Design of Process systems |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Most of the electricity in the world is generated from the burning of coal. This produces large quantities of carbon dioxide (C02) gas, which is emitted into the atmosphere and may be causing global climate change. One of the ways that the amount of C02 can be reduced is by changing the way that the electricity is generated from coal. Currently, coal is burned in a furnace to heat steam which passes through the furnace within tubes. The superheated steam drives a turbine to produce mechanical energy which is then converted to electrical energy in the generator. Instead of producing superheated steam, the combustion gases themselves could be used directly to drive the turbines. This would reduce the amount of C02 per quantity of coal burned by 30-50%. The reason this has not been done before is that the particles of mineral matter which are contained within the coal, and released into the combustion gases, destroy turbine blades through erosion and corrosion processes. Therefore, the mineral matter needs to be removed from either the combustion gases prior to them entering the turbine, or from the coal itself.This project is investigating a process for removing the mineral matter directly from the coal. The aim is to reduce the level of mineral matter from its natural value of approximately 10% down to 0.1%, which is a level considered to be acceptable for turbine blades. This is achieved by mixing the coal with aqueous chemical reagents which react with the minerals to form soluble products. The process is called leaching. The products of reaction reside in the solution and are separated from the coal by filtration. The separated ultra-clean coal (UCC) contains a reduced level of mineral matter and is ready to be burned directly in a gas turbine fuel cycle. In order for the process to not require on-going purchase of chemical reagents and to not generate waste, the chemical reagents are re-generated back from the products in solution by reversing the chemical reactions. This research will focus on the development of both the leaching part of the process and the reagent re-generation part of the process.Aside from protecting turbine blades, increasing cycle efficiency and reducing C02 emissions, a process for producing UCC also reduces the amount of other harmful pollutants generated. When coal is burned, sulphur present in the coal converts to sulphur dioxide (SO2) gas, which is emitted into the atmosphere, converts to H2SO4 and descends to earth as acidic rain, which causes harm to the environment. The process removes sulphur and other elements which become harmful pollutants, such as Mercury (Hg) and Arsenic(As).In conjunction with power generation, UCC is also a high purity carbon material which can be used as a substitute to oil for the production of a wide range of valuable carbon based fuels, chemicals and materials, such as heavy fuel oil, graphite, carbon fibers, and carbon electrodes used in the metallurgical industry.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk |