Economic assessment of coal-burning locomotives: Topical report
The General Electric Company embarked upon a study to evaluate various alternatives for the design and manufacture a coal fired locomotive considering various prime movers, but retaining the electric drive transmission. The initial study was supported by the Burlington-Northern and Norfolk-Southern railroads, and included the following alternatives: coal fired diesel locomotive; direct fired gas turbine locomotives; direct fired gas turbine locomotive with steam injection; raw coal gasifier gas turbine locomotive; and raw coal fluid bed steam turbine locomotive. All alternatives use the electric drive transmission and were selected for final evaluation. The first three would use a coal water slurry as a fuel, which must be produced by new processing plants. Therefore, use of a slurry would require a significant plant capital investment. The last two would use classified run-of-the-mine (ROM) coal with much less capital expenditure. Coal fueling stations would be required but are significantly lower in capital cost than a coal slurry plant. For any coal fired locomotive to be commercially viable, it must pass the following criteria: be technically feasible and environmentally acceptable; meet railroads' financial expectations; and offer an attractive return to the locomotive manufacturer. These three criteria are reviewed in the report.
- Research Organization:
- General Electric Co., Erie, PA (USA). Transportation Systems Business Operation
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC21-85MC22181
- OSTI ID:
- 7018157
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/MC/22181-2536; ON: TI88001032
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Advanced coal fueled gas turbine system definition: Topical report
Locomotive applications of coal-fueled diesel and gas turbine engines
Related Subjects
014000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Combustion
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330102* -- Internal Combustion Engines-- Diesel
330103 -- Internal Combustion Engines-- Turbine
330800 -- Emission Control-- Alternative Fuels
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
COAL-FIRED GAS TURBINES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
DESIGN
DIESEL ENGINES
DISPERSIONS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL CONSUMPTION
FUELS
GAS TURBINES
HEAT ENGINES
INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
LOCOMOTIVES
MACHINERY
MAINTENANCE
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
SLURRIES
SUSPENSIONS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TRAINS
TURBINES
TURBOMACHINERY
USES
VEHICLES