Power, fossil fuel-fired electric

The principal pollutants of concern to fossil fuel-fired electric power plants are sulfur oxides, particulates, and nitrogen oxides. The national ambient air quality standards for these three pollutants are shown in Table I. 

The Federal Power Commission, with the cooperation of the EPA, collects air and water quality control data for each fossil fuel-fired electric generating plant of 25 MW and greater. Under this program the FPC collected information for the year 1969 ( 2) from 655 fossil-fueled plants with 2995 boiler-generator units having a total capacity of 244 thousand MW, compared with the 3298 units with a total capacity of 259 thousand MW reported in Table III for the year 1970. 

Environmental Protection Agency, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generatirtg Units, 76 Fed. Reg. 23,399 (2011) EPA Finalizes Rule to Reduce Mercury, Air Toxics Emissions From Power Plants, 42 BNA Env. Rept. 2877 (2011) Amy Harder, Mercurial, National Journal, September 17, 2011, at 54 (Obama Speech). 

Power plants based on the Rankine thermodynamic cycle have served the majority of the world s electric power generation needs in the twentieth century. The most common heat sources employed by Rankine cycle power plants are either fossil fuel-fired or nuclear steam generators. The former are the most widely used. 

Thus, the net reaction is just Eq. 15.77. Methane-fueled MCFCs are leading candidates for local power plants in the range 1-3 MW, as their cost and efficiency are more attractive than those of PAFCs. The relatively high temperature of the exhaust gases means that they can be used effectively to drive conventional gas or steam turbines to generate additional ( topping ) electricity for increased overall efficiency. Less CO2 per kilowatt-hour is produced than by other fossil fuel-fired power generation methods, and emissions of NO , SO , and unburned hydrocarbons are minor. 

There are two possible ways for the proper preservation by drying by using fossil fuels and by using solar energy. Not considering the disadvantageous environmental pollution effects caused by the CO2, SO2, and NO emission, the use of fossil fuel fired or electrically powered dryers is limited and inappropriate for most of the farmers in developing countries. The main reasons are as follows ... 

The second section reviews current uses of membranes in electricity generation, primarily in fossil fuel-fired power plants. For some functions, such as... 

Air pollution control devices (gas cleaning devices) (Chapter 23) found in fossil fuel-fired systems (particularly steam electric power facilities) include particulate removal equipment, sulfur oxide (SOx) removal equipment, and nitrogen oxide (NOx) removal equipment. 

Engineering and Economic Evaluation of CO2 Removal From Fossil-Fuel-Fired Power Plants. Palo Alto, California Electric Power Research Institute, June 1991. IE-7365. 

Solar voltaic cells based on crystalline silicon have operated with a 30% efficiency for experimental cells and 15-20% for commercial units available in 2008, at a cost of around 15 cents/kWh, compared to 4-7 cents/kWh for fossil fuel-fired power plants and 6-9 cents for those fired by biomass. Costs of photovoltaic electricity have shown a continuous downward trend. Part of the high cost in the past has resulted from the fact that the silicon used in the cells must be cut as small wafers from silicon crystals for mounting on the cell surfaces. Significant advances in costs and technology are being made with thin-fllm photovoltaics, which use an amorphous silicon alloy. These cells are only about half as efficient as those made with crystalline silicon, but cost only about 25% as much. A newer approach to the design and construction of amorphous silicon film photovoltaic devices... 

Electric power generation using biomass as a fuel is economic in situations where the cost of the fuel is competitive with that of fossil fuels. The cost of a commercially available biomass steam—electric power plant is about 1500/kW for a wood-fired facility. If wood can be obtained at a cost of 2.00/GJ ( 2.10 X 10 /Btu), the total cost of power for base-load operation would be about 0.05/kWh. If wood or agricultural wastes are available at... 

In the energy sector, coal-fired power plants contribute 54% of C02 emissions, and gas-fired power plants contribute 40%. In 2009, C02 emission from fossil fuels is estimated to increase by 113% compared to the year 2000. Each kWh of electricity of Vietnam contributes 0.52 kg C02 emission. The contribution of each sector to the total emissions in Vietnam through the years is shown in Fig. 9. 

Fossil fuel electrical power plants can be more hazardous to humans than nuclear power plants because of the pollutants. A 1,000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant releases about 100 times as much radioactivity into the environment as a comparable nuclear plant. A 1,000-MW power plant will use 2,000 railroad cars of coal or 10 supertankers of oil but only 12 cubic meters of natural uranium every year. Fossil fuel... 

A conventional power plant fired by fossil fuels converts the chemical energy of combustion of the fuel first to heat, which is used to raise steam, which in turn is used to drive the turbines that turn the electrical generators. Quite apart from the mechanical and thermal energy losses in this sequence, the maximum thermodynamic efficiency e for any heat engine is limited by the relative temperatures of the heat source (That) and heat sink (Tcoid) ... 

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