Prototype anthracite culm combustion boiler/heater unit, City of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Environmental impact assessment

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:5110583

There are currently about 910 million cubic yards of anthracite culm (mine refuse) contained in 800 separate banks in a 480 square mile area in the Wilkes-Barre (W-B) anthracite mining region. These banks occupy valuable land space and are environmental hazards, polluting the water with acid run-off and the air because of the eruption of fires by spontaneous combustion. Although this material represents a significant fuel value equivalent to approximately 1.25 billion barrels of fuel oil, the culm banks have been allowed to accumulate because no satisfactory method of combusting this fuel was available until the relatively recent development of the atmospheric fluidized bed (AFB) steam generator. A program sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) was initiated in October 1978 to design, construct and evaluate a 100,000 pph AFB steam generator burning anthracite culm and demonstrate it to be technically, economically and environmentally feasible to produce 150 psig saturated steam for district heating in downtown W-B. This report describes the potential environmental effects of the proposed action. 8 figs., 25 tabs.

• Research Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC
• DOE Contract Number: AC21-78ET10422
• OSTI ID: 5110583
• Report Number(s): DOE/EA-0169D; ON: DE88011448
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
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Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR QUALITY
ANTHRACITE
BLACK COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
COMPLIANCE
CULM
CULTURAL RESOURCES
ENDANGERED SPECIES
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FEDERAL REGION III
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LAND USE
MATERIALS
MINERAL WASTES
MITIGATION
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PENNSYLVANIA
PLANTS
REGULATIONS
RESOURCES
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
SOLID WASTES
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WASTES
WATER
WATER QUALITY