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=Coal Cleaning Technologies =

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The goal of coal cleaning technologies is to create an abundant and affordable alternate energy source which is also less harmful to the environment than fossil fuels and "unclean" coal.

The idea was started by the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) program, started in 2002 by the Bush Administration. The goal of this program is to create technologies that will use coal efficiently while also being considerate of the environment.

Since the U.S. has more coal than any other country in the world, a process which would be able to clean coal and create an alternate natural gas out of this coal would provide the world with a plentiful, abundant energy source. Technology that would be able to perform such a process is being developed by companies such as GreatPoint Energy. GreatPoint Energy has developed their own chemical process in which they are able to "clean" the coal, resulting in a natural gas which would be able to not only serve for power generation, but for household uses. This process is called Hydromethanation, and the natural gas which results from this process is called bluegas™.


 * The basic process of Hydromethanation looks like this :




 * As one can see, the process starts out by using Carbon (C2) and Steam (2H 2 O) to create Methane (CH 4 ) and Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ). These two products assist in cleaning the coal, and creating an extremely clean natural gas by the end of the process.
 * Although this is the basic chemical reaction, there are actually multiple steps which assist in making the process extremely efficient by not requiring an outside source of heat to occur. These low temperature reactions are not only effective, but cheap, as they need virtually no catalyst to occur. These reactions are displayed in the image below:



The Methane is used in the bluegas™, while the Carbon Dioxide is put into an "Enhanced Oil Recovery," where the Carbon is recovered at the end of it's use.



GreatPoint Energy's desired process is displayed above. Interview with Andrew Perlman, CEO of GreatPoint Energy below.

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While these technologies seem extremely useful and environmentally friendly, there is controversy about the topic, debating whether this "clean" coal is actually being true to its' name.
 * Clean coal is thought to be a misleading term. While in theory it reduces air emissions and pollutants from power plants that burn coal, it doesn't actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result in global warming. Also, while the clean coal plants may be creating cleaner energy, the issue of mining for coal still exists in that mountains, hillsides, and natural land is being destroyed to get to the coal. There is also the thought that large quantities of energy are required to transport the coal, and during transportation, pollutants are emitted.
 * Clean coal plants that are supposed to be able to capture the carbon dioxide that is emitted from burning coal and bury it underground are not yet in production. While coal plants are now more efficient with producing more energy after burning less coal than the older coal plants, the process is still not “clean”. Pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere and coal is still being burned. Without a way to completely capture all the harmful emissions from burning coal, there is no way to have clean coal. There is more efficient coal, with the newer “supercritical plants” that run at higher pressures and higher temperatures. This means that less coal is burned in order to get the same amount of electricity.
 * Coal companies and politicians are known to describe coal plants that have an efficiency rate of over 40% as clean as opposed to the “unclean” ones that run at around 30%. While the first plants are cleaner than the second, they still produce harmful pollutants.

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Haugen, David M. __Coal__. Fueling the Future. Detroit: Greenhouse P, 2007.

Riddle, John. __Coal Power of the Future__. The Library Future of Energy. New York: Rosen Pub Group, 2003.