China Fights Air Pollution

According to Industrial Info Resources, China shut down 156 small coal-fired power plants during the first six months of this year in an effort to reduce emissions and comply with a target set by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People’s Republic of China. The total generating capacity of the power generation units is 5,510 megawatts and will meet 55% of emissions reductions set for 2007 by the NDRC.

Treehugger reports one million cars will be taken off Beijing roads in August for a two week trial to test new smog-control measures in an effort to reduce air pollution in anticipation of next year’s Beijing Olympics, representing 1/3 of the city’s cars. Last month, Beijing’s registered vehicles numbered 3 million, more than double from 5 years ago, with about 1,000 cars going on the road every day.

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Marketwire

Treehugger

air pollution
environment

China: Death by Air Pollution

Recent news on China’s devastating air pollution levels has garnered world attention. Here’s a run down on the facts from various news source:

• A World Bank report release at a Beijing conference in March, suggests 400,000 Chinese die every year due to outdoor air pollution. Reportedly Chinese officials tried to have these statistics removed from the report. The government denies they tried to cover-up the numbers.



• Two thirds of the electricity generated in China comes from coal-fired power plants, with the country holding 13 percent of the world’s reserves of coal. With coal being the top producer of greenhouse gas emissions, China is now producing more CO2 emissions than the United States, establishing itself as the No. 1 GHG producer in the world.



• An average of two coal-fired power plants a week are being built in China. Almost all of them are being built with out-dated equipment and no emissions control technology. Chinese utilities believe that using emissions control technology will decrease their power plant’s energy output. Because of this, they are resistant to retrofitting their plants with new technology.



• There is an ever increasing consensus from world scientists that China’s economic growth and the resulting greenhouse emissions will push our environment pass the tipping point of no return.



• China’s emissions from coal-fired power plants are increasing at an annual rate that is double the total emissions growth of all industrialized economies combined.



• China’s environmental agency is blaming public unrest and riots on anger stemming from pollution, with an increasing number of demonstrations taking place over power plant emissions and air pollution.


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Council on Foreign Relations
Guardian Unlimited
San Francisco Chronicler

current issues
global-warming

DOE Funds Projects Geared Toward Near-Zero Emissions Power Production

Washington, DC - The Department of Energy announced in December the selection of five projects totaling nearly $12 million targeting cost-effective technologies to improve the performance and economics of near-zero emission, coal-based power generation systems.

Developed for the Office of Fossil Energy's Advanced Research program, the projects focus on identifying technologies that address physical, chemical, biological and thermodynamic constraints in the cross cutting technology areas of instrumentation, sensors and control systems, materials, and computational energy sciences. DOE is providing more than $9.3 million in funding while industry is contributing more than $2.3 million. The projects range from 24 to 36 months in duration.

The research will continue to emphasize many of President Bush's energy goals of addressing global climate change, enhancing energy security, ushering in a hydrogen economy, and building the FutureGen plant. Cumulatively, the results will meet the efforts to develop the power generation systems of the future.
The projects are described below:

ALSTOM Power, Inc. (Windsor, Conn.) will develop computational process models and a process dynamic simulator to investigate and develop advanced sensing and control systems for hybrid combustion-gasification chemical looping. Their work hopes to achieve a more reliable, economical and emissions-optimized future plant process. (DOE share: $1,198,998; industry share: $299,750; duration: 24 months)

Babcock & Wilcox Company (Barberton, Ohio) will develop comprehensive modeling focused on predicting the corrosion rates of boiler tubes under low-NOx corrosion. Eight common coals will be tested and the intention is to accurately estimate the corrosion rates of boiler tubes using different variables including chemicals and temperature. (DOE share: $2,103,543; industry share: $525,884; duration: 36 months)

General Electric (Niskayuna, N.Y.) will perform computer modeling research focused specifically on coal gasification plants and will install and develop a harsh environment sensor package at the Tampa Electric Company Polk Power Station. The collected temperature data will be used for model validation. (DOE share: $2,427,588; industry share: $606,897; duration: 36 months)

Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, Calif.) will develop advanced nanostructure coatings to significantly improve corrosion and erosion performance of tubing used in boiler applications. The coatings will undergo testing in simulated boiler environments using coals from three different regions. EPRI's partners include the Southwest Research Institute, Foster Wheeler North America Corp. and Applied Films. (DOE share: $1,994,828; industry share: $498,708; duration: 36 months)

University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, Colo.) will develop a gas-solid model, using new methodologies tailored to polydisperse systems, targeted specifically at materials with differences in size and/or density. Novel aspects include incorporating the effects of random particle motion between systems. (DOE share: $1,594,175; industry share: $402,995; duration: 36 months)

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Department of Energy

Find out:
About new low-temperature selective catalytic reduction technology from CleanAIR Systems to lower NOx emissions from power plants.