Assessment of coal cleaning for trace element control. Final report

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1998

OSTI ID:354830

Akers, D; Arnold, B ^[1]

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1. CQ Inc., Homer City, PA (United States)

Current methods of cleaning coal already reduce the concentration of most of the elements named as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) under Title 3 of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments because most of these elements are associated with ash-forming or sulfur-bearing minerals. Advanced methods of physical cleaning may prove even more effective than conventional cleaning technologies, in HAPs control, especially if the coal is crushed before cleaning. The most significant disadvantage of conventional or advanced physical cleaning methods for HAPs control is that reductions of 90% or greater from as-fired coal may not be possible. Chemical and biologic methods of cleaning coal can potentially remove greater amounts of at least some HAPs elements than conventional or advanced physical cleaning methods. At least one promising chemical process (HAPs-Rx) has been developed and tested at laboratory scale that has the potential of removing over half of the mercury and arsenic remaining in coal after conventional cleaning. An assessment of the cost and effectiveness of conventional, advanced, and the HAPs-Rx chemical process was performed using laboratory data and computer simulations. The study found that the cost of removing a pound of mercury from coal by cleaning often compared favorably with cost projections by the Environmental Protection Agency for removing a pound of mercury by activated carbon injection.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); CQ Inc., Homer City, PA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 354830
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR--111852
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
COAL PREPARATION
DEASHING
DEMETALLIZATION
DESULFURIZATION
ECONOMICS
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
MERCURY
TRACE AMOUNTS