|
Post by smshogun on Feb 15, 2019 23:09:49 GMT -5
Many of you may already know that I am an engineer and for several months I have been engaged on a project for the stability of the countries power following Brexit and while the usual drivel is trotted out such as wind power, solar power, and even wave power, but for some time now something else has been in the background and that is the hydrogen economy as it reduces in car emissions and is generally seen as the saviour of the country.
Hydrogen has many issues and its emissions and energy consumption are just one, but without needing to EU imposed emissions limits which were designed to impact EU countries and control them, but are also ignored for certain countries such as Germany who not only burn coal, but brown coal which is the worst polluter of all; so much for one standard.
One other idea gaining momentum is the opening up of a limited number of UK coal mines and beginning the production of coal again, and with some very good reasons, the UK coal mining industry was closed as a result of EU emissions regulations for a very specific reason and that was coal would leave the UK energy independent as it could produce electricity, town gas, petrol and diesel, and synthetic oils from one source of energy, coal.
Recent technological breakthroughs have made some important future potential for coal to be used as a 1 stop fuel source and at this stage it is initially proposed that coal should be mined in limited quantities and used as a supplementary fuel following Brexit to ensure energy security and to stop the wholesale imports of oil, gas, and electricity from other EU countries at what are expected to be inflated prices; and some of these technologies would include:
1) The development of a synthetic form of crude type oil to produce oil based products. 2) The extraction of several types of fuel gases for domestic and commercial use. 3) New technologies in combustion to burn coal in a specific manner to raise steam in a closed loop circuit to reuse and recycle steam in the electricity production process. 4) New technologies to produce new forms of both diesel and petrol which produce very little exhaust emissions.
At this stage I cannot disclose anymore other than the fact these technologies are tried and do work and there is now a realistic chance that we may have some new coal mines in the very near future if this can get enough support, which is slowly gathering momentum.
|
|
|
Post by tygwyn on Feb 25, 2019 6:56:51 GMT -5
Reckon that`s a dead duck,the only possibility is the Cumbrian operation gaining planning,but we must be optimistic.
|
|
|
Post by smshogun on Feb 28, 2019 8:15:57 GMT -5
At this stage it is a realistic possibility, and there are a lot of scenarios which will have to play out which will influence the outcome of this and as yet they are very uncertain, it will only happen if many of these factors align and we are faced with a small number of scenarios which will force the Government to back and underwrite these schemes with the backing of the public.
At the current time, Brexit is a very influential factor and if this plays out as a no deal Brexit then this can substantially influence this towards coal being used again, but how? this is a fluid situation currently and the most likely option is a small scale operation using outcrop coal initially is the most likely possibility as we will be free of EU emissions regulation but we will still be bound by others such as Kyoto. EU regulations ban coal outright in the UK but Kyoto does not specify specific fuels and relies more on emissions outputs which can be significantly reduced and used as a platform to show coal can be used with emissions outputs which meet their targets and this may lead to higher usage of coal from other sources such as deep mining making them a future possibility.
|
|
|
Post by tygwyn on Feb 28, 2019 9:35:32 GMT -5
Interesting outlook, With a no deal Brexit,How could we be competitive with imported coal? You mention Outcrop coal,In South Wales outcrops have been well developed in the early years of mining,one could still find an area to work for a Smallmine if the profitability was there,Danygraig No.4 in Crynant near Neath,i worked there in 79 in the No.2 Colliery,they raise going on for 100ton a week,the graded sizes goes for filtration use,otherwise it would be a dead loss. But to find an area of outcrop coal to work on the scale to make a difference to power,Well,i doubt you`ll find one here.
|
|
Clive
Shotfirer.
Posts: 168
|
Post by Clive on Mar 3, 2019 4:08:55 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by smshogun on Mar 10, 2019 22:00:01 GMT -5
Actually it is very relevant Clive as it clearly states that funding on a worldwide scale is currently being withdrawn and I wonder if people really understand what this means, it means that corporate investors are withdrawing their funding as they can invest elsewhere and make larger returns on their investments, which is their primary aim, return on investment.
What this doesn't preclude is smaller investors and even Governments from investing in coal and when we leave the EU we will not be bound by their environmental emissions limits which are merely another form of EU control. Under Kyoto we have differing obligations with regard to environmental emissions and we can currently meet and exceed them with coal using a little technology.
Ty Gwyn made an excellent point about the outcrop coal and insufficient demand from current coal capacity to power generation capacity and how current outcrop coal could not meet the demand for power generation and this is currently something being seriously looked into and with the introduction of a new technology we can separate coal flakes from slurry and even larger particles of coal dust, this would mean that old dirt hills could potentially be excavated to bridge the gap between full scale coaling operations from deep mines as well as test the new equipment using little more than water pressure to excavate old coal tips and minimise coal dust emissions.
|
|
Clive
Shotfirer.
Posts: 168
|
Post by Clive on Mar 12, 2019 1:57:05 GMT -5
Yes, the strides in technology are amazing especially around carbon capture. At some places a lot of stone can be sent along in the coal as it does have a calorific value and the calorific value of the coal, if good,,can even up the mix to an acceptable average. It would be nice to think there would be a return, even in a small way. I suppose we will have to wait and see
|
|
|
Post by tygwyn on Mar 12, 2019 7:32:01 GMT -5
There is a shortage of tips left in South Wales,most have already been screened for their coal,i have no idea of the amount of tips left in the Midlands,are there many?
|
|
|
Post by smshogun on Mar 18, 2019 21:30:26 GMT -5
Yes, many of the tips screened for coal nationally used old technologies which were inefficient, new technologies exist which mean even previously screened tips and outcrops would yield a profitable amount of coal due to the sizes of coal they can reclaim.
Figures I have seen show that just three pit tips could yield enough reclaimed coal to power a medium size power station for 18 years minimum and this could be easily increased by modifying and standardising the type of blend they use to power these plants, during the NCB and BC era, each set of power stations used their own specific blends and there was no standardisation and this was a problem; sulphur emissions are the real issue and to achieve current and future standards would mean using a standard blend nationally.
|
|
|
Post by fortythreesflyer on Mar 20, 2019 8:18:27 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by colly0410 on Mar 21, 2019 9:54:33 GMT -5
Bloke on the radio saying "the coal is going to have to come from somewhere for the steel making, so mine it here instead of bringing it thousands of miles from USA, Australia or Russia!" I agree with him but the tree huggers don't like the idea, why I don't know..
|
|
|
Post by smshogun on Mar 26, 2019 23:42:49 GMT -5
While this was a possibility it has taken us all by surprise, so who really cares about the tree huggers as they make up facts to suit their somewhat warped agenda in much the same way that global warming had its name changed to climate change as they proved that global warming is a natural phenomenon and these alleged global or climate change experts cannot have their theories proven or disproven and with the best intentions, they are only an opinion and nothing more, and we can all give opinions so why are theirs different to everyone elses? Money is the answer because if they give an opinion which fits the EU or Government's agenda then they get lots of funding and high wages, so a vested self interest.
If it came down to a choice of feeding their families and heating their homes; or changing or giving up their views on climate change you can bet their views would change.
They all cite the emissions standards and these are EU emissions standards and if we are not in the EU then they don't apply to us, so their claims are flawed with disinformation right from the start. If they are so concerned about trees then why aren't they doing something positive such as buying and planting trees instead of moaning about it and expecting everyone else to do it? because all they do is moan and gripe and do nothing positive themselves.
In reality most of our imported steel comes from India because the labour costs are lower and they have little to no health and safety and a ship full of steel takes an average 6 days to get to the UK and burns around 60 tons of heavy oil per day so they don't mind ships burning 360 tons of heavy oil or the fact that they are killing people in India so they can have their nice new steel products, but they still moan and do nothing.
These idiots make the mind boggle, stop their dole money and tell then to get off their arses and do something and their world will fall in.
|
|
|
Post by miningstudent on Mar 29, 2020 21:50:12 GMT -5
Ditching coal The issue is crucial to global plans to tackle climate change. Carbon Tracker says that to combat climate change effectively one coal plant has to retire every day until 2040. The report urges governments and investors to cancel coal projects in the pipeline - or risk almost £500bn in wasted investment. It says in deregulated economies, market forces will drive coal out of existence. That's already started to happen in the US, where President Trump promised to revive the coal industry, but found that investors weren't willing to back him. *published on March 12,2020, on BBC news* www.bbc.com/news/business-51852637newint.org/features/2020/03/11/unlikely-coalitionPublished on March 11 by an independant newspaper
|
|
|
Post by miningstudent on Mar 29, 2020 22:18:26 GMT -5
Early March, this makes a whole lots of sense. How is this creating less carbonic gas if it is brought from other places? Not to mention it's not creating any jobs...
Thirsk and Malton's MP, Kevin Hollinrake, says he is working with ministers to plan ahead for when UK production ceases as a consequence of the coming ban on coal in homes and power stations.
NYMR General Manager Chris Price explains that Imported coal is more expensive and could cost them an extra £900k per year.
He also argues that transporting the fuel to the UK is hardly environmentally friendly.
www.minsterfm.com/news/local/3059198/how-do-you-power-a-steam-train-at-pickering-without-uk-coal/
|
|
|
Post by maverick on Apr 14, 2020 20:52:54 GMT -5
Actually, you cannot do away with coal as you will have lots of exemptions and they all run on coal, heritage railways are one, numerous museums are another, particularly the steam museums running coal fired boilers; there are many more.
Has anyone ever asked the question of WHY they want the world to run on one source of power, ELECTRICITY?
|
|
|
Post by John on Apr 15, 2020 8:15:07 GMT -5
Actually, you cannot do away with coal as you will have lots of exemptions and they all run on coal, heritage railways are one, numerous museums are another, particularly the steam museums running coal fired boilers; there are many more. Has anyone ever asked the question of WHY they want the world to run on one source of power, ELECTRICITY?
Nobody yet has found a way to make steel without coal, so coal will be used for many more generations to come.
|
|
rob52
Shotfirer.
Posts: 199
|
Post by rob52 on Oct 4, 2020 21:50:52 GMT -5
2018_09 hydrogen-steelmaking-for-a-low-carbon-economy H_DR HYBRIT Project EESS report no 109 SEI working paper WP 2018-07 September 2018
Rob
|
|
|
Post by maverick on Apr 10, 2022 20:43:41 GMT -5
Actually, you cannot do away with coal as you will have lots of exemptions and they all run on coal, heritage railways are one, numerous museums are another, particularly the steam museums running coal fired boilers; there are many more. Has anyone ever asked the question of WHY they want the world to run on one source of power, ELECTRICITY?
Nobody yet has found a way to make steel without coal, so coal will be used for many more generations to come.Actually they have and they are called electrical arc furnaces and they use three electrodes to produce the molten metal and they don't actually use coal but they need carbon adding and they use coke, oops no coal or coking works.
|
|