While some countries look to reduce their reliance on coal, the energy source remains critical for much of the world. With this in mind, we speak to Clean Coal Technologies about its Pristine-M technology, which would improve the efficiency of coal-burning power plants, and help balance the environmental footprint of coal, while ensuring energy security around the world.
The future of coal is, in many ways, contradictory. While countries such as the UK and Germany look to replace a reliance on coal with renewable power and clean energy sources, other nations are doubling down on their dependence on the energy source. Coal accounts for 14% of China’s energy mix, for instance, and in its Coal 2018 report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) noted that coal would be required to meet 23% of the world’s energy needs by 2023.
IEA director Keisuke Sadamori explained this phenomenon with a “two worlds” philosophy, where countries with established coal-burning infrastructure, such as the UK, are able to look beyond coal and consider alternative energy sources, as they have benefitted from centuries of productivity and prosperity as a result of burning coal. However, countries that have not yet completed an industrial revolution, or are still in the midst of an energy transition, remain reliant on coal, and so attempts to phase out coal across the world could ultimately harm a significant number of people, despite the environmental arguments in favour of replacing the energy source.
As a result, many have advocated for a balanced approach, where coal remains a part of the global energy mix, but the means of mining, processing and burning coal is optimised to eliminate waste and minimise environmental damage. One such solution comes from, US-based Clean Coal Technologies (CCT) which is developing its Pristine-M technology, a gasification process that could improve the efficiency of coal-burning plants by 33%, and help reduce the environmental footprint of this vital energy source.
The Pristine-M process
CCT’s solution consists of a three-step process: first, mined coal is devolatised, where volatile residues of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are driven off the coal; then, the coal is dried at around 250 degrees Fahrenheit to remove excess moisture from the coal; and finally, the “vapour phase deposition” process causes the volatile matter to be absorbed back into the pores of the coal from which the moisture was driven off. In this way, the moisture within the coal, which interferes with its ability to be efficiently burned to provide energy, is removed without compromising the structural integrity of the coal.
“After [the coal] has been mined you process it through our technology, [which] removes a certain percentage of the moisture from the coal,” said CCT COO and CFO Aiden Neary. “That percentage is really dependent on what moisture content the end user wishes to keep, but we can take the moisture from 30% moisture down to below 5% if required.
“The coal is cultured with a heavy hydrocarbon, which makes it hydrophobic, makes it stable, and produces a dust-free by-product. The reason this is important is you are increasing the BTU value of the coal by about 33%.”
The BTU value of the coal refers to how much energy can be produced from combustion, and increasing this figure is critical to ensuring efficient coal production. Much of the company’s work has been completed in the Powder River Basin in the US state of Wyoming, where coal has a BTU value of around 8,800 and a moisture content of anything between 25% and 32%, so the process could yield significant results in the local area.
Metallurgical coal, or coking coal, is a vital component of steel making. In fact, about 3/4 of the steel produced today uses coal. And, in 2017 the U.S. produced 81.6 million metric tons of steel.
02. High-Technology Products
Coal and its by-products are used to make materials that can be found in your computers, smartphones, DVDs, lasers, LEDs, and other consumer electronics. Not only are coal products used in the production of the metals needed by the technology sectors but these high-technology products are also made with rare earth elements (REEs). Many REEs can be found in coal basins, and FE has researched new processes to concentrate and extract REEs from coal-based materials.
03. Automobiles
Besides the steel, aluminum, and electronics found in the automobile, coal products are used in the value chains of rubber products used in tires, and they have been used to make transportation fuels.
The unit provides direct coal liquefaction to product synthetic hydrocarbon mixture – equivalent of crude oil – by treatment of 2-phase coal-water mixture by pulse high-voltage discharges in cavitating reactor. Distillation of synthetic oil allows to produce light fractions.
