A P P L I C A T I O N
24
Powder Technology and Nanotechnology
Contributed for Clean Utilization of Coal
Hisao Makino, Naoki Noda
Coal is an important energy resource for meeting the
further demand for electricity, as coal reserves are much
more abundant than those of other fossil fuels. But coal
utilization technology produces carbon dioxide more
than other fossil fuel because of higher carbon content
of coal.
For coal utilization, it is necessary to develop high
efficiency and clean power generation system. Almost
coal used in Japan is imported from other countries,
including Australia, China, Indonesia, the United States,
and so on. So, the diversification technology for using
coal is important.
As coal is a solid fuel, there are some problems in the
utilization of coal including the transportation technol-
ogy, the reaction control technology, and so on. Powder
technology is an important issue for the solution of these
problems in coal utilization, and nanotechnology has the
possibility to enrich the merit of powder technology.
In this chapter, the role of powder technology and
nanoparticle technology in coal utilization system is
introduced.
1. POWDER TECHNOLOGY AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY IN PULVERIZED
COAL COMBUSTION POWER PLANT
The pulverized coal combustion technology is the
main system for coal utilization. By the utilization of
pulverized coal, the pneumatic particle conveyor can
be applied for the transportation of coal and the reac-
tivity of coal particle is improved. Fig. 24.1 indicates
the system flow of pulverized coal combustion power
station. In Japan, coal is imported and unloaded at the
port and is kept in stockpile. In stockpile yards, the reen-
trainment of coal particle by the wind and spontaneous
combustion of coal are important problems. As a
Nanoparticle Technology Handbook, Third Edition
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-64110-6.00031-7
monitoring technology of reentrainment of fine coal
particle, measurement methods for aerosol particle are
applied. For the control of reentrainment, water spray,
development of surface active agent, development of
wind shielding fence, and so on are investigated. For
the analysis of spontaneous combustion, the reactivity
of coal particle at low temperature is studied. The appli-
cation of water spray and surface active agent is useful
for the control of spontaneous combustion. The fine par-
ticle control technology from the views of aerodynamic
behavior and reactivity of particles is very important
for the problems in coal stockpile yards. For the utiliza-
tion of coal, coal is pulverized to fine particle whose me-
dian diameter is about 40 mm. The power consumption
of the pulverizing equipment is larger than other equip-
ment in the power station, so it is important to develop
the low power consumption pulverizing technology. If
the diameter of coal particle becomes fine, the reactivity
of coal particle is improved very much. The production
technology of finer coal particle becomes important.
Pulverized coal is induced to the boiler and fired in it.
In the pulverized coal combustion, it is necessary to
develop the low-NOx and high-efficiency combustion
technology. Fig. 24.2 indicates the concept of advanced
low-NOx and high-efficiency combustion technology
[1]. In this combustion, the recirculating flow for coal
particle is formed near the burner outlet by the control
of the injection condition of combustion airflow. By
this recirculation flow, the residence time of coal particle
in the high-temperature area near the burner outlet,
and the thermal decomposition of coal particle, is accel-
erated. As this acceleration effect becomes larger accord-
ing to the reduction of particle diameter, the pulverizing
technology to the ultrafine particle is very important
from this point of view.
The combustion gas is purified by the flue gas treat-
ment system including the selective catalytic denitrifica-
tion equipment (de-NOx equipment), the electrostatic
533 © 2018, 2012, 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
534 24. POWDER TECHNOLOGY AND NANOTECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTED FOR CLEAN UTILIZATION OF COAL

Condenser

Steam Electric
turbine Generator
De-NOx
Boiler
Burner

Pulverizer
De-SOx
Air Heater
ESP

Ash
IDF Stack

Ship FDF

FIGURE 24.1 System flow of pulverized coal combustion power station. ESP, electrostatic precipitator; FDF, forced draft fan; IDF, induced
draft fan.

Secondary combustion air
Re-circulation flow
NOx reduction area
Pulverized coal
+
Primary air Combustion Unburned carbon
accelerating area re-burning area
Swirl vane
Tertiary combustion air
Multi-stage injection of
staged combustion air
FIGURE 24.2 Concept of advanced low-NOx and high-efficiency
combustion.
precipitator (ESP), and gypsum limestone desulfuriza-
tion equipment. In the de-NOx equipment, the catalyst
for the NOx decomposition is utilized. For the improve-
ment of de-NOx efficiency, it is important to produce a
high-performance catalyst from the fine particle of raw
material of catalyst, and the performance of the catalyst
decreases according to the time of continuous utiliza-
tion. This reduction of the performance is caused by
the adhesion of fly ash in flue gas to the surface of cata-
lyst. To control this adhesion, it is important to investi-
gate the flow pattern and particulate behavior in the
catalyst.
In ESP, the collection efficiency of fine particle is
lower than that of coarse particle. Especially, in the
area of particle diameter from 100 nm to 1.0 mm, the
collection efficiency has the minimum value. It is neces-
sary to improve the collection efficiency of this particle
diameter area. The fly ash particle collected in ESP is
utilized in the mixture of cement material and so on.
The powder technology related to the fly ash utilization
becomes important for the reduction of the disposal of
fly ash.
2. POWDER TECHNOLOGY AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY OF HIGH-
EFFICIENCY COAL UTILIZATION SYSTEM
The high-efficiency power generation system can
reduce the CO2 emission for the required electric power
supply. In Japan, the ultrasuper critical boiler has been
operated and the steam condition is improved step by
step. On the other hand, for the great improvement of
power generation efficiency, the development of the in-
tegrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) and
the integrated coal gasification and fuel cell combined
cycle (IGFC) are promoted.
Fig. 24.3 indicates the system flow of IGCC process. In
Japan, the demonstration plant of IGCC has been oper-
ated since 2007. This plant has been successful for a
continuous run of 5000 h. But this plant uses a wet gas
cleaning system. For more improvement of power gen-
eration efficiency, the development of hot gas cleaning
system and utilization of high-temperature gas turbine
are important. In hot gas cleaning system, the develop-
ment of high-performance adsorption material for H2S,
HCl, HF, and so on is required. The performance of these
sorbents is improved by using fine particle or particle
with suitable fine pore. From this aspect, nanotech-
nology is very important for the production of the
 3. INVESTIGATION OF CO2 CAPTURE AND STORAGE METHOD 535
Dust collector
Char recovery unit
Steam
Gasifier generator Desulfurizer

Coal Banker Stack

Dust Air
Gas turbine
Char
Crusher Slag Hopper

Air

Waste water treatment Heat recovery steam

generator
Clean
water Steam turbine

Slag

FIGURE 24.3 System flow of integrated coal gasification combined cycle process.

of MCFC can be reduced about half and the cell perfor-

Coal mance can be kept over 90% of the initial performance
Clean up after 40,000 h continuous run by the research using
Air Expander
unit new smart material in Central Research Institute of
Gasifier
Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI).
G T G

3. INVESTIGATION OF CO2 CAPTURE

MCFC
AND STORAGE METHOD
ST G
C

To reduce CO2 emission greatly, the CO2 capture and

Steam turbine
FIGURE 24.4 System flow of integrated coal gasification and fuel
cell combined cycle using molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). GT , gas
turbine; ST, steam turbine.
sorbents, and the functional material for thermal barrier
coating is required for the development of high-
temperature gas turbine. For these materials, the pow-
der technology, especially fine particle technology, will
be very useful. In the future, the improvement of the reli-
ability and cost performance is required.
The high-temperature fuel cell can maintain a high ef-
ficiency of power generation. IGFC can reduce CO2
emission more than that of IGCC. As a high-
temperature fuel cell, the molten carbonate fuel cell
(MCFC) and the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are investi-
gated. Fig. 24.4 shows the system flow of IGFC using
MCFC. The main subjects of the utilization of MCFC
are the improvement of the durability of the cell perfor-
mance for long time and the cost performance. The cost
storage system is one method. But CO2 emission from
the thermal power plant is large, so CO2 removal
method requires the reduction of power generation effi-
ciency and the increase of power generation cost
extremely. Fig. 24.5 indicates the comparison of estima-
tion result of power generation efficiency with and
without CO2 removal. In general, the power generation
efficiency of the coal utilized thermal power plant with
CO2 removal is about 30% lower compared with that
of the power generation plant without CO2 removal. In
these CO2 removal systems, the CO2 removal technol-
ogy from IGCC system is better than the CO2 removal
technology from the pulverized coal combustion power
plant. For more improvement of power generation
efficiency of IGCC system with CO2 removal, the devel-
opment of high-performance CO2 separation technol-
ogy, including the absorption process, the adsorption
process, membrane separation process, and so on, is
required. It seems that CO2 removal technology can be
improved by the application of new smart material
and nanotechnology.
536 24. POWDER TECHNOLOGY AND NANOTECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTED FOR CLEAN UTILIZATION OF COAL

60 As CO2 has gasification effect different from N2 and

the performance of CO2 in gas turbine is higher than
Efficiency (HHV Basis) [%]

50 that of N2, the power generation efficiency of this system

becomes higher than the other system. The development
40
of this system is progressed in bench-scale plant level.
In this system, the high-performance air separation
30
equipment, O2eCO2 blow gasifier, and related technolo-
20 gies are important. The improvement of adsorption
material for the gas molecules and the control technol-
10 ogy of coal particle in gasifier will be a major subject
for the development of this system.
0
without with without with without with

IGCC PC
FIGURE 24.5 Comparison of estimation result of power genera-
tion efficiency with and without CO2 removal. IGCC, integrated coal
gasification combined cycle; NGCC, natural gas combined cycle; PC,
pulverized coal combustion.
In CRIEPI, to keep the high-efficiency power genera-
tion of IGCC when CO2 is removed, a new type CO2
removal IGCC system using O2eCO2 blown gasifier
and O2eCO2 blown gas turbine is investigated [2].
Fig. 24.6 shows the flow of this system. This system is
a combination of IGCC and Oxyfuel (O2eCO2 blown)-
pulverized coal combustion system. So, in this system,
gasifier and gas turbine are operated using O2 from
the air separation unit and CO2 from recycled flue gas.
NGCC
4. UPGRADING OF LOW-RANK COAL
AND BIOMASS
For the utilization of the low-rank coal and biomass,
the major problem is the included moisture in these
fuels. Although many kinds of upgrading technologies
of low-rank coal and biomass are developed, the drying
technology is one of the most important methods. But
the moisture in low-rank coal and biomass is not only
bulk moisture but also moisture in the pore, so it is
difficult to remove the moisture efficiently. For the
high performance of moisture removal, the methods
using evaporation are effective. On the other hand, these
methods require the higher power consumption for the
increase of coal temperature.
In CRIEPI, the extraction method using dimethyl
ether (DME) is investigated [3]. Fig. 24.7 shows the

Steam Turbine
Steam
Oxygen Gas Gas
Gasifier Clean Up Turbine HRSG
Coal
Oxygen
CO2 CO2

CO2 Storage
Compression

FIGURE 24.6 System flow of integrated coal gasification combined cycle with CO2 removal. HRSG, heat recovery steam generator.

Liquid DME

DME gas

Water
Extraction
High moisture Solid Dry Solid

FIGURE 24.7 Concept of the extraction method using dimethyl ether (DME).
 REFERENCES
concept of this method. DME is gas phase in ambient
pressure and temperature, but it becomes liquid phase
by pressurization in ambient temperature, and the lique-
fied DME can include moisture. So, in this system, the
liquefied DME is mixed with the low-rank coal or
biomass, and DME extracts moisture. After the separa-
tion of liquefied DME, including moisture with dried
coal or biomass, DME is converted to gas phase by
decompression, and gaseous DME is separated with
liquid water. The gaseous DME can be converted to
liquid phase by pressurization, and DME is used again
by recycling. This method can reduce the power
consumption required for the drying of low-rank coal
and biomass. For the estimation and the improvement
of the performance of this system, it is very important
to keep the diameter of coal particle or biomass
537
to optimum value and to analyze the micropore
structure. The powder technology and nanoparticle
technology will be important for the development of
this system.
References
[1] H. Makino, M. Kimoto, T. Kiga, Y. Endo, Development of new type
low NOx burner for pulverized coal combustion, Therm. Nucl.
Power 48 (6) (1997) 702e710.
[2] Y. Oki, J. Inumaru, S. Hara, M. Kobayashi, H. Watanabe,
S. Umemoto, H. Makino, Development of oxy-fuel IGCC system
with CO2 recirculation for CO2 capture, in: Proc. of the 10th Int.
Conf. on Greenhouse Gas Control Technology, 2010.
[3] H. Kanda, H. Makino, M. Miyahara, Energy-saving drying tech-
nology for porous media using liquefied DME gas, Adsorption
14 (2008) 2.