What is Clean Coal?

Through combustion, coal has been a source of electricity and heat for centuries. Unfortunately, coal energy has been far from clean energy. Burning coal produces harmful emissions like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, acid rain and generates large amounts of waste products. Clean coal technologies are aimed at reducing the impact that coal energy has on the environment. By using flue gas desulphurization processes – adding limestone and water to flue gas – sulphur dioxide can be removed from emissions. Gasification completely avoids burning coal by combining steam and hot pressurized oxygen to force carbon molecules apart. The product is called syngas, composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to create electricity. While this form of energy is far from perfected, it is of great importance to find a way to make one of the largest sources of energy environmentally sound.