Last September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed Clean Air Act standards to cut carbon pollution from new power plants, the first such uniform national limits. The EPA is also pursuing carbon pollution standards for existing power plants, building on state efforts to increase environmental sustainability in the power sector. According to an EPA press release, the proposal achieves the first milestone outlined in President Obama’s June 25 Memorandum to EPA on Power Sector Carbon Pollution Standards, a major part of the President’s Climate Action Plan. In response to an earlier, now rescinded proposal, the September 20 proposal sets separate standards for new gas-fired and coal-fired power plants, with a limit of 1,100 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour, or 1,000-1,050 lb CO2 per megawatt-hour gross over an 84-operating month (7-year) period for new coal-fired units. Coal-fired power plants would have the option to meet a somewhat tighter limit if they choose to average emissions over multiple years, giving those units additional operational flexibility. These proposed standards are designed to ensure that new power plants are built with available clean technology to limit carbon pollution. See this EPA Fact Sheet for full details about the proposal. While the initiative to reduce carbon pollution continues to gain momentum, not everyone agrees that the new standards are a good idea.West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has published his own fact sheet explaining the importance of coal production and why he believes the new standards are unrealistic. A few weeks ago he testified at a House Hearing in support of the legislation to rein in EPA’s proposed standards. The fact sheet states that if the September 20 proposal goes into effect, it would be impossible to build new coal-fired power plants because the carbon, capture and storage (CCS) technology that new plants will be required to install have not yet been proven on a large scale. To emphasize the importance of coal as an energy source, the fact sheet points out that coal generates the greatest share of our electricity, providing approximately 40 percent of America’s generated power and serving approximately 75 percent of all Americans. Coal is also responsible for more than 760,000 U.S. jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2010, U.S. coal mining was responsible for 211,410 direct jobs and more than 554,940 indirect jobs. One technology existing coal-fired power plants are using to control emissions is on-line coal analysis. In the U.S., the lbs SO2/MMBtu limits often force utilities to blend different coal types in order to meet emission regulations. With an on-line coal analyzer and software program, the power plant can safely blend two or more coal types and simultaneously satisfy sulfur targets as well those of other parameters such as calorific value. There are some power plants who exercise yet another level of control, blending coals with different ash fusions, striving to keep ash fusion levels in check. Blending different types of coal can also increase boiler efficiency by keeping ash fusion levels high enough to avoid fouling (sintered ash deposit in the boiler) and slagging (molten or partial melting pasty ash deposits in the boiler.) Read On-line Coal Analyzers Bring Benefits to the Utility Industry tolearn about future growth potential in this market. Moving forward, on-line coal analyzers should prove useful tools in helping to balance keeping important sources of energy production running in the most environmentally responsible way.
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