Development of Pollution Control Technology During Coal Combustion - Simultaneous Multi-Pollutants Removal in Flue Gas by Ozone - page 1

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Development of Pollution Control Technology
During Coal Combustion
1.1 Introduction
As we are moving ahead into the 21 st century, our hunger for cost-effective and
environmentally friendly energy continues to grow. The energy information
administration of US has forecasted that only in the first two decades of the 21 st
century, our energy demand will increase by 60% compared to the levels at the
end of the 20 th century. Fossil fuels have been traditionally the major primary
energy sources worldwide, and their role is expected to continue growing for the
forecasted period, due to their inherent cost competitiveness compared to
non-fossil fuel energy sources. However, the current fossil energy scenario is
undergoing significant transformations, especially to accommodate increasingly
stringent environmental challenges of contaminants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides or mercury, while still providing affordable energy [1] . In China, coal has
been traditionally the major primary energy sources, and its role is expected to
continue growing for the forecasted period, due to Chinese energy consumption
structure and its inherent cost competitiveness compared to other fossil or
non-fossil fuel energy sources [2] .
The economy of China has been growing rapidly, and the living conditions of
people have been improved significantly in the past three decades. However, with
the development of the economy, the energy consumption has increased and the
environmental pollution has inevitably become prominent.
As a primary source of energy, coal is mainly used for direct combustion.
While, the traditional coal combustion is inherently plagued with a large amount