Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
United States are fully operational and produce electricity, and an additional 28
coal gasification plants are planned for operation by 2030.
Table 1. Comparison of Conventional Pulverized Coal and IGCC
Technologies
IGCC
Performance
characteristic
New conventional
pulverized coal
plant
near
future
current
2020
Mercury emissions
(pounds/year)
45
29
29
26
Sulfur dioxide emissions
(tons/year)
3,027
566
276
250
Nitrogen oxide emissions
(tons/year)
1,412
1,094
219
198
Carbon dioxide
emissions (tons/year)
3,700,000
3,600,000
3,500,000
3,200,000
Potential for carbon
capture and sequestration
Limited
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plant efficiency (percent)
38.6
39.7
45-50
50-60
Source: The Electric Power Research Institute and DOE.
Note: DOE is the source of plant efficiency data for the “near future” and 2020. The
Electric Power Research Institute provided all other data.
To meet its emissions and efficiency goals, DOE recently proposed a $1
billion advanced coal-based power plant R and D project called FutureGen—cost-
shared between DOE (76 percent) and industry (24 percent)—which will
demonstrate how IGCC technology can both reduce emissions and improve
efficiency by integrating IGCC with carbon capture and sequestration
technologies. According to DOE, FutureGen is designed to be the first “zero-
emissions” coal-based power plant and is expected to be operational by 2015. In
addition to producing electricity and capturing and storing 1 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide, the 275 megawatt plant also will be capable of producing
hydrogen.
Oil and Natural Gas
Since 1978, DOE has supported oil and natural gas R and D, mainly through
cost-shared partnerships with industry. Historically, DOE's R and D funding for
oil and natural gas was principally divided among specific resources, such as gas
shales and coal-bed methane. In the mid-1980s, however, DOE switched its focus
to developing energy technologies that cross multiple resources. Recently, DOE's
