Scrubbed emissions from coal plants ending up in the water

This is a case of solving one problem and creating yet another. A NY Times article reports on how scrubbing emissions at coal fired power plants results in toxic chemicals going into the water system. Given that water resources are tight it is insane to make the water unsafe by adding pollution but at the same time it's insane to simply let this pollution go into the air. On the one hand there's a way to reduce the toxicity of burning coal in power plants, the question is what to do with the toxic chemicals once they're prevented from going into the atmosphere. Or as Sen. Boxer said:

“We know that coal waste is so dangerous that we don’t want it in the air, and that’s why we’ve told power plants they have to install scrubbers,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. “So why are they dumping the same waste into people’s water?”

While she has a very good point her question is rather disingenuous. Obviously if the toxic chemicals are removed from gaseous emissions the toxic chemicals still exist and have to be put somewhere, the question is "where"? The NY Times article goes on to discuss that "no federal regulations specifically govern the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills" and that some regulators attempt to use the Clean Water Act to regulate such emissions. The Clean Water Act is insufficient for this purpose and in any case the NY Times article reports even for plants who are regulated under this act the vast majority are in violation and are not fined or otherwise sanctioned by the agencies who would be regulating them.

The NY Times article states that often states fight against stricter regulations. An example is this listing by the DOE of state regulations in Kentucky ("Coal, Kentucky's Ace in the Hole"):

Current Regulations Governing Coal Combustion By-Products - Kentucky: Under Kentucky regulations, CCBs (including fly ash, bottom ash, and scrubber sludge produced by coal-fired electrical generating units) are exempt from regulation as hazardous wastes but are classified as special waste. Excluded from this regulation is boiler slag and residues of refuse-derived fuels such as municipal waste, tires, and solvents. Under Kentucky law, CCBs (as defined above) may be reused under permit by rule regulation 1) as an ingredient in manufacturing a product; 2) as an ingredient in cement, concrete, paint, and plastics; 3) as an anti-skid material; 4) as highway base course; 5) as structural fill; 6) as blasting grit; 7) as roofing granules; and 8) for disposal in an active mining operation if the mine owner/operator has a mining permit authorizing disposal of special waste. Specific conditions for reuse of CCBs include: 1) the CCB reuse may not create a nuisance; 2) erosion and sediment controls must be undertaken; 3) the CCB reuse must be at least 100 ft from a stream and 300 ft from potable wells, wetlands, or flood plains; 4) the ash must be "non-hazardous;" and 5) the generator must submit an annual report. Mine applications must be specifically authorized under the terms of a permit issued by the Department for Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement.

Another example of the problem is this report by Califormia's Air Resources Board on Disposal of Scrubber Wastes (PDF). It's a very long report but begins with a discussion of the total scrubber waste which would come from eight utility and four utility sites being studied. Among the wastes is 9700 tons of "purge water" which would be produced and require disposal. The purge water was said to contain 70 percent solids so maybe the word "sludge" is better than "purge water"? In any case their casual use of this phrase, "purge water", indicates that for them this is a routine matter of course issue. Hence Sen. Boxer's incredulity quoted above seems misplaced or misinformed as someone in her position ought to already know about this issue.

Perhaps proving that "what goes around comes around", EPA Says Scrubbers Necessary for Health Protection Under Coal Conversion Plan is a historical press release from 1977 going over how "President Carter's Energy Plan calls for maximum conversion of this nation's electric power plants from oil to coal combustion". An issue facing the U.S. during the 1970's was repeated oil embargo's and additionally President Carter famously addressed the nation about the future danger that we now know as Peak Oil. Pres. Carter was prescient enough to see that oil supply problems would only get worse due to the majority of oil reserves being located in unfriendly countries. So he led the country to switch from oil fired electricity generation to coal fired electricity generation.

One of the already known phrases for this is "Coal Combustion Products" which are the byproducts generated from burning coal in coal-fired power plants. These byproducts include fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulfurization gypsum. Astonishingly these CCP's are routinely used in a variety of building materials.

CCP Production	In Tons
Concrete/Concrete Products/Grout	14,515,690
Blended Cement/ Raw Feed for Clinker	4,989,988
Flowable Fill	127,406
Structural Fills/Embankments	10,598,118
Road Base/Sub-base	1,179,509
Soil Modification/Stabilization	1,371,228
Mineral Filler in Asphalt	102,723
Snow and Ice Control	781,346
Blasting Grit/Roofing Granules	1,449,561
Mining Applications	6,701,910
Gypsum Panel Products	8,254,849
Waste Stabilization/Solidification	2,800,031
Agriculture	180,100
Aggregate 1,013,373
Miscellaneous/Other	1,973,173

The EPA claims some benefits of using these CCP's include

• reduction of greenhouse gasses that would otherwise be created during concrete production
• concrete with fly ash is stronger than other concrete
• doesn't need to be put in landfills
• reduces the amount of "virgin materials" which have to be mined

The EPA also lists some of the risks.

• fly ash contains toxic materials such as "heavy metals" but "for all practical purposes" there is no leaching of those toxic materials
• workers handling dry coal ash are of course exposed to these toxic materials
• there is also "unencapsulated" uses of these materials (making concrete is an "encapsulated use") in which there is leaching of elements such as mercury and metals into ground water, contamination of vegetation and the impact on other elements on the food chain, and airborne dust.

The Recycled Materials Resource Center contains an extensive set of guidelines for reusing various "by-product materials" for use in "secondary applications". As they point out "virgin materials" are becoming scarce and the volume of "by-product materials" is increasing. Hence it makes sense to use those "by-product materials" in some other way, with highway construction being seen as a primary potential use. The guide is "intended to provide the reader with general guidance on engineering evaluation requirements, environmental issues, and economic considerations for determining the suitability of using recovered materials in highway applications".

Links: 

Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways

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U.S. EPA Coal Combustion Products Partnership

Links: 

Toxic Power Plant Waste Fouling U.S. Waters

Links: 

User Guidelines for Byproducts and Secondary Use Materials in Pavement Construction

Links: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrubber

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Contaminated Coal Waste

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U.S. EIA Coal Explained: Coal and the Environment

Links: 

American Coal Ash Association

References: 

Clean coal? Misnomer?

References: 

Coal Latte, a boon? Or a mistake?

7 GEN Newsletter #2: Clean Coal, Clean Sustainability Technology, and what happens when you put 2gb of flash memory in a pen

This is the second newsletter issue from www.7gen.com. I am restarting publishing newsletter issues and I hope to get into a regular monthly schedule. Unfortunately I skipped a month due to life issues.

Change

Since the last issue the Obama administration came into office (finally) and began their wave of Change. Hopefully their brand of Change is truly what we can believe in. Most of the changes I hear are good and what I believe in. But some are bothersome.

There's a debate in the news about what to do in regard to the past sins of the Bush Administration. I have long called for Impeachment of the Bush Administration but that didn't happen. And I am firmly of the opinion that the Bush Administration did many illegal, immoral, impeachable acts while in office. And that some of the changes enacted by the Bush Administration were incredibly damaging to the purpose of the U.S.A.

Some recent articles say that under the Bush Administration we were technically living under a dictatorship. During that era I'd hear and dismiss statements like that thinking they were hyperbole. But technically the U.S. legal system was undermined with claims of arbitrary power by the Bush Administration, that the Administration could choose to ignore any law it pleased, and that for example with the 'Enemy Combatant' system they could make up whole extra-judicial systems on the whim of their crazy legal theories.

It seems the general trend is to "move on" and put the past behind us. But leaving illegal acts by a U.S. President stand without prosecuting those illegal acts can serve as precedent by future Presidents to also claim those same powers. I believe it is dangerous to simply move on and forget the past. Otherwise the precedent set by the Bush Administration will haunt us and bite us in the butt in the future. I believe it is better to take some real solid action to make it abundantly clear that many of the changes enacted by the Bush Administration were counter to the goals of the U.S.A., and that the citizens of the U.S.A. will not permit those things to remain as a valid precedent.

Keeping with the Change theme. The word 'Change' is very general. The Bush Administration could well have described their Changes as Change that 'We' can believe in (for some definition of 'we'). It seems the U.S.A. has two extreme polar camps of belief and that for some of the U.S.A. citizens they believed in the Bush Administration changes.

Change simply means making things different than they were before. The Obama Campaign promised Change. Change to What?

Coal, and Clean Coal

A particular Change they seem to want is the use of Clean Coal technology. I don't understand Clean Coal well enough but have heard it dismissed as a fantasy land fabricated from hopes and pushed by the Coal Industry to keep themselves in business. But the proponents of Clean Coal hold high hopes for it. And the Obama Administration has been making statements in support of Clean Coal. It should help one to remember that Obama comes from Illinois, a state rich in Coal deposits, making it possible that Obama has been influenced by Coal interests in his home state.

I'm studying up on Coal and have begun a handbook section on www.7gen.com: Clean Coal? Misnomer?

Clean Green Technology? Sustainable Technology?

Another idea I want to know more about is the definition of Green Technology. There's a lot of talk about how Green Jobs will save America setting off a wave of building new industries and companies and the jobs which will go along with that. I certainly prefer that vision over the Bush Administration vision of turning America into a war mongering military state where military industries are the growth area.

But I find the phrase 'Green Technology' to be very unspecific. What is 'Green' besides a color? What would Purple Technology be?

My latest podcast episode looks into this: Technosanity #23: Defining green technology and sustainable technology

Some green sustainable products

I have also spent some time researching Green and carbon neutral web hosting providers and wrote a blog posting on greenprofs.com Green businesses need green infrastructure and need green web hosting. Green businesses probably have a purpose of offering products or services that aid us in being sustainable. This means we, as business owners promoting sustainability, should also be using sustainable services for our business. That includes our web hosting arrangements.

I personally satisfy much of my personal transportation needs with an electric bicycle. I use it for grocery shopping runs and around town trips. I recently measured the electric bicycle to have 1120 miles/gallon fuel efficiency. And I have also produced a couple podcast episodes about Electric bicycle conversion kits

Gizmos

What happens when you embed a camera, a computer, and 2gb of flash memory in a pen? The result costs a pretty penny, is pretty chunky, but has amazing powers of dictation and recall.

The result is the Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen (APA-00002)

The Livescribe Smartpen is a rather thick pen that you absolutely do not want to lose as it costs a lot more than a regular pen. Embedded in the pen is a small camera, an audio recorder, a speaker, a computer, 2gb of flash memory, and connections allowing you to dock the pen with a computer.

The pen knows what you wrote because it tracks the pen motions you make. They require that you use special paper which has microdots on the surface encoding identifier marks on the paper which tell the pen which page is being written on, as well as where on the page the writing is occurring. The paper looks and feels like regular paper, it simply has these identifying microdots. They sell notebooks with the special paper and you can easily flip back and forth between pages at random, writing on the pages at random, and the pen just keeps track for you with no fuss. This is because each page has identifying microdots and the pen simply recognizes, automatically, which page you're scribbling on.

The audio recorder and playback is also very interesting. The pen can record what's happening around you while you're writing. Are you in a meeting and racing to take notes? It's much easier this way because the pen records the spoken part, you write whatever you can in real time, and you can easily go back over it later to recall more of the discussion. It should also work for students taking notes in a classroom, the pen records the lecture and the student writes whatever they can and can go back over the lecture later without having to struggle to remember what the heck the teacher said.

If you double click the pen on your notes (later), the pen plays back precisely what was spoken at the time you wrote those notes.

An interesting variation is as a writing assistant. For example while brainstorming I like to speak the ideas out loud and then I've found it difficult to remember and write down quite what I said. With this pen I can be talking and writing at the same time and the pen records both parts of the brainstorming. Plus its user interface is very natural to use because, well, it is first and foremost a pen. The audio recorder doesn't interfere with its use as a pen, you simply write and it records both audio and writing.

For years the technologists have said computer technology would bury itself in the woodwork and we'd see a new wave of incredible devices. The livescribe Smartpen is clearly one of these new incredible devices. Massive computing power is embedded in a lowly ink pen, giving the pen advanced capabilities.

Unfortunately the pen also costs quite a bit. This pen is not disposable and clearly its price means you'd better make sure not to lose this pen. However I'm very happy with mine so far.

U.S. DOE Clean Coal Technology & The Clean Coal Power Initiative

URL: 

U.S. DOE Clean Coal Technology & The Clean Coal Power Initiative

Description: 

"Clean coal technology" describes a new generation of energy processes that sharply reduce air emissions and other pollutants from coal-burning power plants.

The Clean Coal Power Initiative is providing government co-financing for new coal technologies that can help utilities cut sulfur, nitrogen and mercury pollutants from power plants. Also, some of the early projects are showing ways to reduce greenhouse emissions by boosting the efficiency by which coal plants convert coal to electricity or other energy forms.

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Ergo Exergy

URL: 

Ergo Exergy

Description: 

The time's come to see how the modern world can benefit from a wide global deployment of Underground Coal Gasification. UCG is an energy-producing technology that can bring the value of underground coal seams to the consumer, without the pain and expense of actually mining the coal. There is none of the lunar-like craters of open-cast mining; none of the tailings of underground mines; no ash dams and coal crushing; no trains transporting coal; no lives lost to underground floods, methane explosions, fires, or deadly pneumoconiosis. The enormous energy that was previously locked up and lost in unmined and unminable coal deposits can now be released and delivered to the surface in the clean and convenient form of pure, rich combustible gas. It's a safe, clean, controlled operation with a great variety of industrial applications, and above all, a low, very competitive cost.

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Wisconson Public Services Commission, Clean Coal Study Group

URL: 

Wisconson Public Services Commission, Clean Coal Study Group

Description: 

As a part of Conserve Wisconsin, Governor Doyle asked the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to investigate Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology and its potential for the future of Wisconsin.

IGCC converts coal into gas. The gas is cleaned and then burned in a combined cycle gas turbine power plant. IGCC dramatically reduces air emissions, water use and industrial waste, but there are unanswered questions about the technology’s reliability and cost.

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Underground Coal Gasification

URL: 

Underground Coal Gasification

Description: 

An LLNL research program on Underground Coal Gasification. "Gasification is a process by which coal or other hydrocarbons are converted into a synthesis gas (syngas) at elevated pressures and temperatures, usually in a commercially purchased gasifier. Gasification can be used to create many products (electric power, liquid fuels, hydrogen, synthetic gas) and provides great opportunities for pollution control, especially sulfur, nitrous oxides, and mercury. Underground coal gasification (UCG) converts coal in-situ into a synthesis gas through the same chemical reactions. Because this process gasifies coal at depth under many different geological circumstances, UCG could increase the coal resource available for utilization enormously. A 300-400% increase in coal reserves and even greater increase of gasification is possible...."

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Fire in the Hole: Underground Coal Gasification

URL: 

Fire in the Hole: Underground Coal Gasification

Description: 

"WORLDWIDE coal reserves are vast, over 10 trillion metric tons, but unless cleaner and cheaper ways can be found to convert coal to gas or liquid fuels, coal is unlikely to become an acceptable replacement for dwindling and uncertain supplies of oil and natural gas. Mining coal is dangerous work, coal is dirty to burn, and much of the coal in the ground is too deep or too low in quality to be mined economically. Today, less than one-sixth of the world’s coal is economically accessible. However, Livermore is helping to revive an old technology that offers promise to substantially increase usable coal reserves and make coal a clean and economic alternative fuel. Known as underground coal gasification (UCG), this technology converts coal to a combustible gas underground...."

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BBC: Clean Coal, how it works

URL: 

BBC: Clean Coal, how it works

Description: 

"When burned, coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels but a range of technologies are being used and developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired power stations...."

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Coal gasification: a cleaner option for power generation

URL: 

Coal gasification: a cleaner option for power generation

Description: 

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) has been identified as the most efficient and environmentally friendly technology for producing low cost electricity from coal.

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Sandia Labs: Coal Combustion and Gasification

URL: 

Sandia Labs: Coal Combustion and Gasification

Description: 

Research @ Sandia National Labs on improved coal combustion, and on coal gasification.

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Washington State Rejects Coal Gasification Power Plant

URL: 

Washington State Rejects Coal Gasification Power Plant

Description: 

"Environmental groups are applauding Tuesday's decision by Washington state siting officials to halt consideration of a proposed coal gasification power plant at the Port of Kalama in southwest Washington state near the Oregon border. Members of the state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, EFSEC, unanimously rejected the plan by public power agency Energy Northwest for permanently storing, or sequestering, some of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, CO2, emitted by the power plant as required by state law. ..."

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World Coal Institute: Coal Gasification

URL: 

World Coal Institute: Coal Gasification

Description: 

The World Coal Institute seems to be an industry research consortium, and this is their page extolling coal gasification.

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The Dirty Secret: Better technologies exist for extracting coal, a major source of carbon dioxide emissions. The challenge is ge

URL: 

The Dirty Secret: Better technologies exist for extracting coal, a major source of carbon dioxide emissions. The challenge is getting people to adopt them.

Description: 

"Coal is the black sheep of the energy family. Uniquely abundant among the fossil fuels, it is also among the worst emitters of greenhouse gases. Mindful of coal's bad reputation, President Bush promised the world three and half years ago that the United States would develop a superclean coal plant in an initiative known as FutureGen. The plant would have zero emissions; even the carbon dioxide it released would be pumped underground...."

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Coal Converts: When it comes to lining up new energy sources, a number of states see plain old coal as the cleanup hitter

URL: 

Coal Converts: When it comes to lining up new energy sources, a number of states see plain old coal as the cleanup hitter

Description: 

"Gilberton Valley, in northeastern Pennsylvania, is so larded with mounds of black rock and dark pits of swampy ooze that it sometimes resembles a volcanic moonscape. The only thing that’s ever come bellowing out of the ground here, however, is hard and shiny anthracite coal. During mining’s heyday in the first half of the 20th century, mining companies hauled the purest anthracite out of the valley by the train load, leaving behind the waste coal — small hunks of anthracite mixed with other rock — in messy, acid-leaching piles everywhere...."

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Coal gasification: "clean coal" or subsidy-hungry boondoggle?

URL: 

Coal gasification: "clean coal" or subsidy-hungry boondoggle?

Description: 

"With oil and natural-gas prices rising and coal in plentiful supply, it's more or less inevitable that coal's going to get used, so it makes sense that (some) enviro organizations are biting the bullet and joining the push for the cleanest possible applications. Coal mining is destructive as hell, but in places like northeastern Pennsylvania..."

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U.S. D.O.E. Database of Coal Gasification research projects

URL: 

U.S. D.O.E. Database of Coal Gasification research projects

Description: 

A listing of all DOE research projects related to coal gasification.

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National Energy Technology Laboratory: Clean Coal Demonstrations

URL: 

Clean Coal Demonstrations

Description: 

Seeking to demonstrate and deploy advanced clean coal technologies that meet strict environmental standards.

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National Energy Technology Laboratory: Coal Gasification Reference Shelf - System Studies

URL: 

Coal Gasification Reference Shelf - System Studies

Alaska Coal Gasification Feasibility Studies - Healy Coal-to-Liquids Plant

Beluga Coal Gasification Feasibility Study - Phase I Final Report

Comparison of Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne IGCC and Commercial IGCC Performance

Polygeneration of SNG, Hydrogen, Power, and Carbon Dioxide from Texas Lignite

Potential Application of Coal-Derived Fuel Gases for the Glass Industry: A Scoping Analysis

Current and Future IGCC Technologies: Bituminous Coal to Power

Description: 

Reports documenting system studies performed for gasification technologies.

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National Energy Technology Laboratory: Reference Shelf - Gasification Database

URL: 

Reference Shelf - Gasification Database

Description: 

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored the 2007 World Gasification Survey to accurately describe the current world gasification industry, identify near-term planned capacity additions, and keep the global gasification community apprised of current industry trends and drivers. Based on publicly available information, the survey includes owners/operators of gasification-based power and manufacturing plants, major gasification technology vendors, and suppliers of supporting technologies. Only commercial operating plants with a capacity exceeding 100 megawatts electric equivalent (MWe) were included in order to avoid listing pilot test and temporary facilities as contributors to the commercial experience database. However, all feedstocks—coal, petroleum residues, secondary materials, biomass, and other carbonaceous materials—were included if the facility in question met the minimum capacity requirement.

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National Energy Technology Laboratory: Advanced Gasification Program Element

URL: 

Advanced Gasification Program Element

Description: 

The gasifier is the main gasification system component. It is a robust pressure vessel where air (or oxygen), water, and a suitable fuel are brought together and heated, stimulating controlled thermal and chemical reactions that yield gaseous process flows made up of synthesis fuel (syngas) products, chiefly carbon monoxide and hydrogen, along with byproducts such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and slag (mineral residues from coal). The syngas stream – and extracted steam flow in combined cycle plants – is used to power turbine/generator sets to produce electricity, while the byproducts may be separated, captured, and stored for reuse or for sale as chemicals.

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