Coal Generation Report Card

Research is Critical

BY MARTIN ROSENBERG
Editor-in-chief, EnergyBiz

We recently discussed the status of coal generation research with Tomasz S. Wiltowski, the director of the Coal Research Center at Southern Illinois University. His edited comments follow.

EnergyBiz: What is the status of coal technology research efforts?

Wiltowski: Many uncertainties surround the future of coal. Can other energy sources replace it? When will the related technology be ready? Can we use coal cleanly? One thing is certain about the future of coal: research and innovation in coal and energy, in close collaboration with industry, policymakers and users, will play a key role in shaping the future.

EnergyBiz: Coal's role remains significant.

Wiltowski: Because of its broad installed base of users, abundance and wide availability, coal appears likely to play a continuing role in providing the world with energy. According to the World Coal Association, coal provides around 30 percent of global primary energy needs, generates 41 percent of the world's electricity and is used in the production of 70 percent of the world's steel. Coal and lignite reserves are sufficient for more than 100 years at the current rate of production. In December 2012, the International Energy Agency projected coal to come close to surpassing oil as the world's main energy source by 2017. In addition, unlike oil and gas, coal is widely distributed around the world with large reserves in the United States, Russia and China. Therefore, coal offers a reasonable level of supply security. Based on various coal forecasts, it can be concluded that there are competing challenges when it comes to securing global energy supply versus reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. This drives us to scenarios in which coal's role is significantly reduced. For example, the IEA World Energy Outlook 2012 presented several future energy scenarios, including the status quo - energy and climate policy unchanged - or making efforts to limit concentration of CO2 to 450 ppm. One scenario predicts reductions in worldwide growth of global coal consumption from 3.6 percent growth in 2000 to 0.4 percent after 2020; however, as noted, this does not seem likely to be the case. Some nations will see moving away from coal as a politically popular national policy, but others are going to see coal as a reliable way to deliver a secure and politically popular source of energy.

EnergyBiz: What innovations are needed?

Wiltowski: We need a new generation of coal-to-energy processes that will have the ability to further reduce the emissions of both air pollutants and solids and improve economic efficiency. For example, instead of storage, should we recycle the coal ash, reusing it in construction? Some of the technologies are already available, and others are being developed. The new technological breakthroughs make it possible for both new and older coal-burning power plants to produce power in an economically and environmentally responsible manner. Supercritical or subcritical combustion, oxy-combustion, chemical looping combustion, gasification, and carbon capture and storage present low-emission alternatives. There is a rapidly growing interest in carbon dioxide utilization. Chemical recycling of carbon dioxide and its reuse in the production of chemicals and fuels is attractive from both an environmental perspective and in terms of fossil source independence.