Coal Power Plant

 Coal Power Plant

Coal-fired power plants, also known as coal-fired power stations, are facilities that produce electricity by burning coal to create steam. This process is known as coal combustion for steam generation. F Nations like South Africa get 94 percent of their power from coal, whereas China and India get 70–75 percent of their energy from coal. Despite this, China consumes an enormous quantity of coal in comparison to the consumption of most other countries (see the data visualisation, However, the combustion of coal results in the production of large quantities of various pollutants, which lowers air quality and contributes to climate change. This increases the number of people who have access to electricity, which in turn helps to improve the quality of life and reduce poverty in the areas in which it is used.

 

Coal plants need massive quantities of coal to operate. A coal plant with a capacity of one thousand megawatts needs nine thousand tonnes of coal every single day. This is the same as filling a full train load (ninety cars, each carrying one hundred tonnes!). [4] If each train is 3 kilometres long, then a single train carrying all of this coal would need to be approximately 1100 kilometres long; this is roughly the same distance as driving from Calgary, Alberta to Victoria, British Columbia. The amount of coal that is used during a full year would then require 365 trains. If this train had to go by your home at a speed of 40 kilometres per hour, it would take it more than a day to get there!

There are several steps involved in bringing this coal closer to its ultimate purpose of producing electricity.   The train carrying the coal has to have its cargo emptied. The older methods for doing this task need the employment of cranes to remove the coal from the cars however, the more modern facilities have the floor of the railway lines designed to slip away, which enables the coal to be deposited into underground confinement. To do this, it is not even necessary for the train to come to a complete stop!  Please go here to see a video of this. Numerous coal plants have a "mine mouth," which indicates that the plant was constructed at the same location as the coal mine, eliminating the need for coal to be transported by rail.   Following the unloading process, the coal is put through a big grinder where it is reduced to a very fine powder. This guarantees that the coal is burned almost completely to maximise the amount of heat given off while minimising the amount of pollutants. The pulverised coal is then introduced into a boiler, which is where the combustion process takes place, and the boiler is where the coal supplies the power plant with heat. This heat is then transported to pipelines that carry water under high pressure, which causes the water to boil and produce steam.  The steam is then sent through a turbine, which causes the turbine to run at a very high speed. This, in turn, spins a generator, which results in the production of electricity. After that, the power may be fed into the electrical grid so that it can be used by society.

The Rankine cycle is the method that is used by coal-fired power plants to finish this operation. Coal power stations must be situated next to a body of water so that sufficient amounts of water may be recirculated inside the plant during the combustion process. There is a wide range of environmental damage that may be caused by coal power plants to the surrounding ecology.

When coal is burned, a large number of pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and sulphur (SOx), as well as particulate matter, are produced. They are also responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), both of which are known to contribute to climate change and global warming. Power plants must-have equipment that can minimise the production of these dangerous compounds to assist slow down their emission of them.

Coal washing is a procedure that involves the removal of impurities from coal by using large volumes of water;  this method has the same name. For instance, in China, around one-fifth of the water that is used in the coal industry is utilised for this operation. In the United States, the proportion is closer to one-third. The removal of about half of the ash that is included in the coal via this process helps to cut down on the number of pollutants released into the atmosphere. As a consequence of this, there is a reduction in the amount of sulphur dioxide (SOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) that are created as a result of increased thermal efficiency. Fish and other aquatic life, along with creatures that depend on these sources of water for survival, maybe negatively impacted when power plants drain water from the surrounding environment. Pollutants may also accumulate in the water that is used in power plants; hence, if this water is released back into the environment, it may harm the species that live there.