Cooler coal plant emissions are cleaner, say physicists

经过Adrian Bishop- 29 Aug 2012 8:14:0 GMT
Cooler coal plant emissions are cleaner, say physicists

Coal Power Plant Image;信用:©Shutterstock

Cooling coal plant emissions by using refrigeration could cut dangerous chemicals including carbon emissions by more than 90% say physicists.

The measure would reduce efficiency by a quarter but would provide significant climate and health benefits, says the University of Oregon team.

节省的节省是使用在电子电子表格上准备的简单数学公式计算的,并已发表在《期刊》上Physical Review E.

University of Oregon physicist Russell J. Donnelly says, "The cryogenic treatment offlue gassesfrom pulverized coal plant is possible, and I think affordable, especially with respect to the total societal costs of burning coal."

In a separate, unpublished and early economic analysis, the scientists suggest an "energy penalty" would raise electricity costs by a quarter but will also produce benefits through subsequent reductions of health-care and climate-change costs normally linked to burning coal.

如果植物使用相同数量的煤生产与使用低温清洁的同时产生相同的电产出,则能源罚款是消费者可用的电力降低。

Russell Donnelly says, "In the U.S., we have about 1,400 electric-generating unit powered by coal, operated at about 600 power plants."

根据2006年国会预算办公室的数据,该能源的售价约为每千瓦时5.6美分。他们说,在美国燃烧煤炭的估计健康费用从1.5亿必威国际必威官网美元至3800亿美元不等,包括18,000-46,000个早期死亡,540,000次哮喘袭击,13,000次急诊室访问和每年的200万个失踪工作或上学日。

罗素·唐纳利(Russell Donnelly)和UO研究助理罗伯特·E·赫什伯格(Robert E. Hershberger)合着了该论文,估计将大规模低温系统引入coal-fired plantswould cut costs to society by 38% through large reductions of associated health-care and climate-change costs. Front-end health-care costs involved in coal extraction through mining are eliminated.

The cryogenic concept is not a new one. Donnelly experimented with it in the 1960s using a paper mill in Springfield, Oregon, to remove odour-causing gases in the area around the plant using cryogenics. The National Science Foundation later financed a major study to capture sulphur dioxide emissions - that contribute to acid rain - fromcoal burning plants. The grant included an engineering study from the Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco.

The Bechtel study found the cryogenic process would work well, but warned large quantities of carbon dioxide also would be condensed. This raised no worries in 1978.

Mr Donnelly says, "Today we recognize that carbon dioxide emissions are a leading contributor to climate-warming factors attributed to humans."

接下来是一个为期两年的项目,以重新检查和更新他的热力学计算,并生产“电子表格可访问”公式,该公式有可能被行业使用。

虽然所需的冷却机械可能很大 - 可能与足球体育场一样大,但建筑或改造的成本可能与现有的系统相似,包括洗涤器,这是不需要的。

The new journal article does not grapple with the costs of construction or the disposal of capturedpollutantsthat would depend on engineering and geological considerations.

The Physical Review E paper explains that二氧化碳would be captured in its solid phase, then heated and compressed into a gas that can be moved through a pipeline at near ambient temperatures to dedicated storage facilities. Other chemicals, including sulphur dioxide, some nitrogen oxides and mercury would also be condensed and safely removed from the exhaust stream.

In December 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new mercury and air toxic standards and called for the trapping of 41% of sulphur dioxide and 90% of mercury emissions.

A cryogenic system would do better, capturing at least 98% of sulphur dioxide, virtually 100% of mercury and 90% of carbon dioxide, the team believes.

俄勒冈大学研究与创新副校长金伯利·安德鲁斯·埃斯皮(Kimberly Andrews Espy)说:“这种前瞻性的公式和这些研究人员的初步分析为电力行业提供了一些令人兴奋的可能性,这些可能最终可能使人类健康和环境受益。必威国际必威官网

“俄勒冈大学的科学家正在继续开发新的想法和先进的材料,以促进我们星球及其人民的可持续未来。”

该研究由美国能源部资助。其他合着者是查尔斯·E·斯旺森(Charles E. Swanson),他从俄勒冈大学获得了物理学博士学位,并在唐纳利(Donnelly)的领导下担任博士后研究员。约翰·W·埃尔泽(John W.约翰·帕特纳豪尔(John Pfotenhahauer)在俄勒冈大学获得博士学位,现在在麦迪逊大学威斯康星大学的机械工程系中。

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Topics:Greenhouse Gases/Pollution/二氧化碳