Can Coal Become A Green Fuel?

Last year the world burned 5.3 billion tons of coal, representing an 8.8% increase over the previous year and 92% growth over the past 25 years.

Coal is extremely important, not just to economic growth but for keeping the lights on and people warm. There is an increasing interest in technologies that might make coal, along with gas and oil, into a green fuel including carbon sequestration.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is among the greatest hopes of the fossil fuel industries. If it can be made to work economically then, in theory, companies could continue burning carbon-based fuels such as coal and gas without accelerating global warming.

In principle CCS is simple. First, CO2 is separated from its sources, such as flue gases. At this point, it’s transported away from where it was originally burned and finally buried away from the atmosphere, ideally for millions of years. In practice, each of those stages has problems including the energy they cost.

Its detractors argues that there is little point in generating carbon-free power if a large chunk of it goes into extracting and pumping to its final resting place. The focus of CCS is going to be on new or refurbished stations. E.ON, the energy company, has planning permission to build a coal-fired plant at Kingsnorth, Kent, one of a generation that will be made ready for carbon capture . However, the kit to do this will be fitted only once government policy has become clear, and the final decision to approve the project lies with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.