Researchers have discovered a stunning new process that takes the energy from coal without burning it — and removes virtually all of the pollution.
The clean coal technique was developed by scientists at The Ohio State University, with just $5 million in funding from the federal government, and took 15 years to achieve…The process removes 99 percent of the pollution from coal, which some scientists link to global warming. Coal-burning power plants produced about one-third of the nation’s carbon dioxide total in 2010, or about 2.3 billion metric tons, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Retrofitting them with the new process would be costly, but it would cut billions of tons of pollution….Fan discovered a way to heat coal, using iron-oxide pellets for an oxygen source and containing the reaction in a small, heated chamber from which pollutants cannot escape. The only waste product is therefore water and coal ash — no greenhouse gases. As an added benefit, the metal from the iron-oxide can be recycled.
I fail to see how CO2 isn’t produced without the coal ash still having long carbon chains in it, and therefore the majority of its chemical energy. Probably making this not very viable as we not only need clean energy, but at a reasonable price.
Still interesting article.
