By JULIE A. DUTTON

Coal conference: on expanding ways to use it

WAYS TO increase the use of Illinois coal - through synfuels, legislation and technology — was the topic of an April 26 seminar at Sangamon State University. Lyle Sendlein, director of the 8-year-old Coal Research Center at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, emphasized that Illinois has a lot at stake in developing its coal resources: It has the nation's largest deposits of bituminous (soft) coal — an estimated 162 billion tons. Although Illinois coal has a high sulfur content (which limits the amount that can be combusted without pollution control devices because of environmental regulations), it has a high energy content and can be easily pulverized into a multitude of sizes for a variety of purposes. About 64 billion tons are extractable with current technology, said Sendlein.

Besides plentiful coal reserves, Sendlein said Illinois has other resources which uniquely qualify it as an ideal site for synfuels plants. Water supplies — needed for mining, converting and transporting coal — are abundant; a large skilled labor force is available for construction, mining and manufacturing; and extensive transportation systems assure access to market centers.

The technical aspects of increasing the uses of Illinois coal were addressed by Luther Bechtel, a professional engineer and legislative fellow for the Illinois Legislative Council. Bechtel identified four main technological schemes for promoting the use of Illinois coal: flue gas desulfurization (FGD), combined coal cleaning and FGD systems, fluidized bed combustion, and kilngasification.

Bechtel explained that basically, FGD or "scrubbers" are large chemical process systems designed to remove sulfur dioxide from the flue gases before they are emitted from the stack. While scrubbers alone have lad a history of being unreliable and expensive, when combined with physical coal cleaning they are among the more cost-effective mechanisms for sulfur dioxide removal.

32 | July 1982 | Illinois Issues

Combined coal cleaning and FGD systems are fairly readily employed (within a year), compared to the anticipated long-term delay for most of the other technologies (several years for full-scale utility operations), said Bechtel. Already some large utilities specify in their contracts that mining companies are to furnish cleaned coal, while other utilities operate coal cleaning plants on their power plant sites.

Bechtel speculated that foreign and out-of-state markets for Illinois coal might be increased as a result of the success of the combined coal cleaning and FGD system. Other advantages to this approach cited by Bechtel include savings in transportation because of reduced coal bulk; improved boiler performance because of increased fuel uniformity; and a reduction in the amount of waste products.

Fluidized-bed combustion, Bechtel said, consists of mixing coal and limestone in the presence of preheated air, and then burning the resultant fluidized mass in specially designed steam boilers. Both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions are controlled within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The remaining coal ash and limestone can be used for making wall board, concrete mix, fertilizer and landfill. Industrial applications of fluidized-bed combustion have been well proven, Bechtel said.

A kilngasification, or kilngas system, is lo be set up at a demonstration plant now under construction at the Wood River generating station of the Illinois Power Company, Bechtel said. The process will yield a clean, low-energy gas for combustion in existing natural gas-fired boilers, Bechtel explained. This system has the advantages of generating a minimum of waste and being able to be retrofitted to existing gas or oil-fired boiler units. However, full-scale utility operations are not expected for several years, according to Bechtel.

The Illinois General Assembly, said Rep. Ralph Dunn (R., DuQuoin), is using a three-step approach to increase the use of Illinois coal: seeking out the healthiest regulatory climate; promoting the use of Illinois coal; and establishing a Coal Research Board. Policymakers in Washington, said Dunn, must realize that Illinois coal interests must be protected with rational reforms in regulations (especially the Clean Air Act) that do not jeopardize pollution control efforts.

Among the measures taken by the Illinois General Assembly to promote Illinois coal, Dunn explained, are the passage of the Illinois Coal Development Bond Act, which currently provides $65 million of general obligation bonding authority for coal demonstration projects in Illinois, and the establishment of the Illinois Office of Coal Commerce, with field offices in Brussels, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo.

The newly created Coal Research Board has the statutory mission of setting a research agenda and funding projects involved in the direct application of coal technology, said Dunn. The board, which has had one official meeting, is focusing on desulfurization research but will also consider funding research in coal chemistry and new uses for Illinois coal.

Dunn's sense of urgency about developing Illinois coal resources was echoed in Bechtel's concluding remarks. "As we all realized," Bechtel said, "there is a great abundance of Illinois coal for use now and for many decades to come. . . .[It would seem time] to again review and develop some means of encouragement for development of new technologies that will allow a return by the utilities to the use of Illinois coal."

Julie A. Dutton is research associate for the science unit of the Illinois Legislative Council.

July 1982 | Illinois Issues | 33