POWER July 2017 - 49

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY
3. GreenGen. China Huaneng Group and seven other Chinese state-owned companies,
and later U.S.-based Peabody Energy, banded together between 2006 and 2007 to develop
a large-scale integrated gasification combined cycle unit with a carbon capture and storage
system. The first phase involved construction and operation of the 250-MW Huaneng Tianjin
demonstration plant. The second phase, currently underway, involves improving existing systems
and developing a demonstration-scale system to draw about 7% of the syngas from the
Tianjin plant for carbon capture, which is to be used for enhanced oil recovery. A third phase
may involve building a larger 400-MW plant with associated carbon capture facilities. Courtesy:
Huaneng Group
heavy metals and volatile organic compounds.
Several programs are also examining utilization
of byproducts from pollutant removal.
The technologies would be beneficial to a
number of countries bent on expanding their
coal fleets. According to some experts, however,
conditions in the U.S. may not support
an expansion of highly efficient coal generation,
taking into account lessons learned in
China. One reason is that the U.S., unlike
China, has access to cheap and plentiful shale
gas, which has put coal-fired generation at
a competitive disadvantage.
Additionally,
emissions regulations and the general public
perception that coal is a dirty fuel have effectively
halted the development of any new
coal-fired power plants in the U.S.
" If China is going to reduce emissions
substantially, more efficient coal generation
has to be part of its equation, at least for the
near to medium term. In the United States,
investing in next-generation clean coal plants
is not a good solution because natural gas is
cheap, plentiful, and lower-emitting than all
but the most expensive coal-fired power, " the
authors of the May overview from the Center
technology solutions, as well as to increase
the flexibility of coal plants, so that they can
support the high penetration of renewables.
On the emissions front, research continues on
multi-field fine particulate control technologies,
as well as on control technologies for
for American Progress noted. ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER
associate editor.
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POWER July 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER July 2017