https://www.miningweekly.com

Emissions ‘unavoidable’ even if cleanest coal generation technology is used – report

18th August 2021

By: Simone Liedtke

Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

     

Font size: - +

Dr Ranajit Sahu, an engineer with more than three decades of experience in power plant design, has found that large quantities of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions are “unavoidable”, even if the cleanest available technology is used for new coal-fired power generation.

South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity of 2019 (IRP 2019) claims that new coal generation capacity will be cleaner because high-efficiency, low-emission (HELE) generation technology will be used, although it does not state which kind.

Sahu assessed the potential air emissions of the most likely types of HELE technology that could be used as part of a report commissioned by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) for groundWork, the Vukani Environmental Movement in Action, as well as the African Climate Alliance.

He found that, even in the best-case scenario in which the cleanest available technology is used, “large quantities of GHG emissions are unavoidable”.

In particular, Sahu considered two likely technologies that could be used, namely pulverised coal units and circulating fluidised bed technology.

He found that pulverised coal units, even when operating at ultra-supercritical efficiency, would not be able to capture their emitted carbon dioxide owing to extremely high costs.

Circulating fluidised bed technology, which is considered preferable in the IRP 2019, owing to its ability to handle low-quality coal, emits two to ten times more nitrous oxide than pulverised coal technologies, according to Sahu’s findings.

Nitrous oxide is a potent, long-lasting GHG with a global warming potential 300 times that of carbon dioxide.

“I want to stress that contrary to implications in the IRP 2019 and the Ministerial determination, there is simply no such thing as ‘clean coal’, regardless of whether HELE technologies are used to minimise air emissions from coal (or gas derived from coal),” Sahu stated.

The report is the latest research that supports the view that new coal generation in South Africa will be “unnecessary, costly and highly detrimental” to the environment.

“New coal generation flies in the face of the South African government’s obligation under international and South African law, including the South African Constitution, to take all reasonable measures to protect its people from the impacts of climate change,” Sahu concluded.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION