Is there a clean coal road map for the U.S.?

The Clean Coal Technology Roadmap (2005-2020) [http://www.netl.doe.gov/coalpower/ccpi/pubs/CCT-Roadmap.pdf], developed cooperatively by DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory and the coal and power industry, notably the Coal Utilization Research Council (CURC) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is DOE’s plan to develop the technology needed for future energy plants that:[1]

• Use coal to produce electricity and, when economically favored, transportation fuels, and other valuable energy products;
• Have near-zero emissions including CO2;
• Are highly efficient; and
• Have costs comparable to today's technology.

Roadmap Supports the following Presidential Initiatives:

• Clear Skies: Meets existing & emerging SO2 and NOx regulations.
• Clean Coal Power: Provides emerging near-zero emission technologies for demonstration.
• Climate Change: Supports research to reduce CO2 emissions at acceptable costs.
• Homeland Security: Keeps low-cost, abundant domestic coal competitive energy resource for the future.

The plant schematic below shows the areas where advanced technology will be demonstrated. The three Charts that follow present a path for demonstrating technology modules and the integration of these modules into advanced coal plants.

The following Chart focuses on innovations for existing plants.

Source: DOE

The next Chart focuses on achieving future near-zero emission coal plants with initial plants operating in 2020.

Source: DoE

The next Chart gives the technology Roadmap through 2030.

Source: DoE

Research by Kevine Lidoro