Computer economics of physical coal cleaning and flue gas desulfurization
C. R. Alder Wright, T.W. Tarkington, JAMES D. KILGROE · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1983
A computer model that simulates the performance and calculates the economics of a coal-cleaning process, a flue gas desulfurization (FGD) process, and a combination of the two processes for electric utility boilers has been developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) under sponsorship of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The model also determines other economic benefits and penalities to overall power plant operations that are associated with the use of cleaned coal. The model is described and its use is illustrated for selected design and economic premises. The present status of the model is assessed and possible future studies are discussed. The illustrative examples show that in some instances a combination of coal cleaning and FGD for SO/sub 2/ emission control can be more economical than FGD alone. For the cases studied, it was found that the use of coal cleaning in combination with FGD can have a varied effect on the levelized annual cost of power production. This effect, which is dependent on the coal and the specific operating conditions, ranges from a 0.5% increase to a 22.6% decrease in those costs. The methods used to determine many of the other economic benefits and penalties of coal cleaningmore » are necessarily general in nature because detailed data relating specific coal properties to boiler performance and operating costs are scarce. Thus, development and incorporation of more detailed and quantitative data in the model would greatly increase the usefulness of the model in assessing overall economic effects of coal cleaning. 10 figures, 3 tables.« less