The 3R anthracite clean coal technology: Economical conversion of brown coal to anthracite type clean coal by low temperature carbonization pre-treatment process
Authors: Someus Edward 
Published: July 2007

The preventive pre-treatment of low grade solid fuels is safer, faster, better, and less costly vs. the "end-of-the-pipe" post treatment solutions. The "3R" (Recycle-Reduce-Reuse) integrated environment control technology provides preventive pre-treatment of low grade solid fuels, such as brown coal and contaminated solid fuels to achieve high grade cleansed fuels with anthracite and coke comparable quality. The goal of the 3R technology is to provide cost efficient and environmentally sustainable solutions by preventive pre-treatment means for extended operations of the solid fuel combustion power plants with capacity up to 300 MWe power capacities. The 3R Anthracite Clean Coal end product and technology may advantageously be integrated to the oxyfuel-oxy-firing, Foster Wheeler anthracite arc-fired utility type boiler and Heat Pipe Reformer technologies in combination with CO2 capture and storage programs. The 3R technology is patented original solution. Advantages. Feedstock flexibility: application of pre-treated multi fuels from wider fuel selection and availability. Improved burning efficiency. Technology flexibility: efficient and advantageous inter-link to proven boiler technologies, such as oxyfuel and arcfired boilers. Near zero pollutants for hazardous-air-pollutants: preventive separation of halogens and heavy metals into small volume streams prior utilization of cleansed fuels. >97% organic sulphur removal achieved by the 3R thermal pre-treatment process. Integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) programs: the introduction of monolitic GHG gas is improving storage safety. The 3R technology offers significant improvements for the GHG CCS conditions. Cost reduction: decrease of overall production costs when all real costs are calculated. Improved safety: application of preventive measures. For pre-treatment a specific purpose designed, developed, and patented pyrolysis technology used, consisting of a horizontally arranged externally heated rotary kiln. The flexible operation provides wide range of 25 to 125% of nominal capacities. The volatile hazardous air pollutants are safely removed in the reduced volume of gas-vapour stream and burned out in the post burner at 850 ?C2s ? 50 ?C, while the Clean Coal solid end product is utilized for clean energy production. "Product like" pilot plant with >100 kg/h through-put capacity has been built and successfully tested in Hungary in 2005. The 3R anthracite Clean Coal technology opens new technological and economical opportunities for solid fuel power generation with sustainable near zero emission performance and safe CCS operations. The 3R technology provides revolutionary solution for climate impact prevention, protection and preservation by safety improvement of the optimized GHG storage conditions. Achievable goal: safe CCS with zero emission seepage. The input 3R CO2 for CCS geological structure injection is clean, low in volume and high in concentration, all in order to optimize the "once for all" stabilized chemical fixation of the CO2, to the mineral matrix. .