Emission burning power plant

An economic externality exists whenever the wellbeing of some individual is affected by the economic activities of others without particular attention to the welfare of that individual. For example, smog-related illnesses such as bronchitis and exacerbated cases of childhood asthma have been blamed, to some extent, on the emissions of nitrogen oxides from automobiles and large fossil-fuel-burning power plants. These illnesses have high treatment costs that are not... 

Acid rain is actually a catchall phrase for any kind of acidic precipitation, including snow, sleet, mist, and fog. Acid rain begins when water comes into contact with sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. These oxides can come from natural sources such as volcanic emissions or decaying plants. But there are man-made sources as well, such as power plant and automobile emissions. In the United States, two-thirds of all the sulfur dioxide and one-fourth of the nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere are produced by coal-burning power plants. 

Estimates of storage capacity based on simple flow and equilibrium geochemical models indicate that the Rose Run Sandstone, by itself, potentially can store 30 years of emissions from the five largest coal-burning power plants in eastern Ohio. Ultimately the injected C02 can dissolve into the brine and be converted to the stable, immobile, carbonate mineral phases, primarily siderite, dawsonite, and calcite. 

The Department of Energy s Clean Coal Program provides information about new technologies and policies to reduce air emissions and other pollutants from coal-burning power plants. 

Last year China added 96 gW of new coal-burning power plants—without any C02 cleanup—to its electricity-generating capacity. Today, China is building almost two fossil-fired power plants a week. In 2006, she added 114 gW to her fossil-generating capacity. Last year she burned 2.7 billion tons of coal. This is 75% of the quantity that was projected for 2020. Since 1990, American emissions rose by 18%, whereas Chinese emissions increased by 77%. Because the Chinese economy is three times as "carbon intensive" as the American, dollar for dollar more reduction could be achieved if investments were made to reduce Chinese, instead of American, power plant emissions. 

Of the total quantity of thallium mobilized by industry amounting to about 1600 tons in the United States during 1977, 70% was reemitted to the environment either in the form of air pollution (15%) or as solid waste (55%). Coal burning power plants account for the greater part of this air pollution, but the smelting of copper, zinc, and lead may also result in concentrated local emissions. The remaining 30% is incorporated in the final products, though usually at a lower level than in the raw materials. ... 

Data from Bencko et al. (1977) indicate that arsenic released from coal-burning power plants in Czechoslovakia may have affected the hearing of children in the nearby communities. The coal cleaning and effluent treatment practices in the US and in most developed countries greatly reduce the level of toxic emissions from coal-burning power plants. 

The amount of emission of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere through the power plant chimney depends mainly on the efficiency of electrostatic precipitators or other devices used for the cleaning of flue gases. There are two types of coal burning power plants in operation in the world ... 

TJ eduction in SO2 emissions from coal-burning power plant stacks is essential to minimize atmospheric pollution from this source. Projections of energy demand show that by 1980 coal will account for about 25 million tons of total sulfur oxides output, mostly SO2, unless effective control methods are developed. 

The 25-year, effort to reduce the emissions from automobiles has greatly benefited the air quality over major cities. Even with this success, more needs to be done. None of the successful efforts has had a large impact on the emission of carbon dioxide. Many of the pollution control schemes used on automobiles actually slightly increase the emission of carbon dioxide. Burning natural gas verses coal reduces the sulfur emissions of power plants. It also slightly reduces the emission of carbon dioxide because natural gas has the least carbon and the most hydrogen of any of the fossil fuels. Unfortunately, increased use of natural gas will also increase the quantity that can escape into the atmosphere. Methane, the major component of natural gas is a potent green house gas. 

Salts of vanadium, manganese, and iron are all effective catalysts for this oxidation, since all can undergo redox reactions. These species are widely distributed in various environments vanadium especially is found in particulate matter produced during coal burning (see more details for HM and SPM emissions from lignite-burning power plant in Chapter 12). 

In many previous chapters, the discussion of questions regarding various environmental aspects of environmental chemistry in air, water, and soil compartments touched upon the problems of heavy metals. However, we should pay more attention to these pollutants, which are of crucial environmental concern in the Asian region. In this chapter, the emphasis will be given to heavy metal emissions from coal (including lignite) burning power plants, and to the specific aspects of environmental behavior of the most dangerous contaminants, like arsenic, mercury and lead. The problems of heavy metal site remediation will be considered in Chapter 16. 

EMISSION OF HEAVY METALS FROM COAL-BURNING POWER PLANTS... 

We will consider the role of coal-burning power plants in emission of heavy metal using the example of Mae Moh power plant in the northern Thailand (Bashkin et al, 2000). 

Selenium concentrations in air are of the order of a few ngm , the levels depending primarily on coal-burning power plants, copper-refining plants or selenium rectifier plants in the vicinity (Salmon etal. 1978, Hogberg and Alexander 1986). In 1979, approximately 420 tons of selenium were released into the atmosphere of Europe. Of these, 373 tons originated from coal and oil combustion refuse incinerators contributed another 32 tons, and 13 tons were emitted from zinc-cadmium smelters. The emissions of selenium from all sources in 28 European countries in 1979 are listed in Table 7.3 (Pacyna etal. 1984) since then, no new compilation of emission data has become available. 

Industrial SO2 emissions cause acid rain and result in serious environmental disasters. The world s most severe acid rain regions today are Northern America, Europe, and China. The major sources of SO2 emisions are coal-burning power plants (for example, in China, they produce about 26 million tons of the hazardous SO2, which is almost 40% of the total SO2 emissions), steelworks, non-ferrous metallurgical plants, as well as oil refineries and natural gas purification plants. The SO2 emissions in air are usually high-volume and low-concentration the SO2 fraction is usually on the level of hundreds of ppm, while total flow of polluted air in one system can reach a million cubic meters per hour (Pu Woskov,... 

Acid Rain - A term used to describe precipitation that has become acidic (low pH) due to the emission of sulfur oxides from fossil fuel burning power plants. 

The U.S. Clean Air Act, implemented in 1970 (and revised in 1970 and 1990) is the federal legal basis for air pollution control in the United States. This legislation has significantly reduced emissions of sulfur oxides, known as acid gases. For example, the Clean Air Act requires facilities such as coal-burning power plants to burn low-sulfur coal. 

In addition, 1990 revisions to the Clean Air Act established a system that allows coal-burning power plants to buy and sell sulfur emission permits with one another. Power plants that reduce their sulfur emissions to below the permitted levels can sell permits to companies wishing to exceed federal levels. 

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