# **Box 3:  Technologies for Control of PM10 and CO2 from Power Plants in India**

Control of particulate emissions from power plants has been a concern in India for many years now, especially because of the high ash content of Indian coal which is the primary fuel for the overwhelming majority of thermal power plants. Over the last two decades, various studies have been carried out to establish effective ways of dealing with these emissions over time (Lookman and Rubin (1998), Kumar and Rao (2002), TERI (2003), Murthy et.al. (2006), Sengupta (2007), Cropper et. al. (2012)).

Coal beneficiation is the process of removal of the contaminants and the lower grade coal to achieve a product quality which is suitable to the application of the end user - either as an energy source or as a chemical agent or feedstock.

A common term for this process is coal "washing" or "cleaning". According to Zamuda and Sharpe (2007), Indian coals are of poor quality and often contain 30-50% ash when shipped to power stations. In addition, over time the calorific value and the ash content of thermal coals in India have deteriorated as the better quality coal reserves have been depleted and surface mining and mechanization expanded. This poses significant challenges. Transporting large amounts of ash-forming minerals wastes energy and creates shortages of rail cars and port facilities. Coal washing reduces the ash content of coal, improves its heating value and also removes small amounts of other substances, such as sulfur and hazardous air pollutants. The benefits of using washed coal, inter alia, include reductions in particulate and sulfur emissions, reductions in flyash disposal costs and reductions in the cost of transporting coal, per unit of heat input. Use of washed coal may also reduce plant maintenance costs and increase plant availability.

Installing a washery for coal would entail an expenditure of around INR 400 million for a 3 MTPA plant. According to Zamuda and Sharpe (2007) for a typical 500 MW plant, the use of washed coal with ash reduced from 38% to 30% could result in a 2% reduction in the cost of electricity generation with savings averaging INR 0.035 per kWh of generated power, once various benefits to plant operation and reduced emissions are accounted for. Lookman and Rubin (1998) had previously analyzed 174 plants across India and found that coal cleaning could result in savings in the range of of USD75-150 million and USD15-25 million for existing plants by 2002 in terms of 1996 dollars. More recently, Cropper et. al. have, using updated figures from India‘s Central Electricity Authority for a particular plant in Rihand, estimated that levelized cost of electricity generation increases from INR 1.206 to INR 1.405 but did not take into account any of the other benefits that Zamuda and Sharpe quantified.

|**Table 3: Health D**|**amage Esti**<br>|**mates for A**<br>|**lternative Sce**<br>|**narios**<br>|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2010**|**2030**|**2030**|**2030**|
|**Morbidity (US$Bn.)**||**BAU**|**10% PM**<br>**Reduction **|**30% PM**<br>**Reduction **|
|Lower|32.38|230.46|206.94|160.96|
|Central|46.12|328.37|294.84|229.28|
|Upper|72.39|515.24|462.64|359.83|
|**Mortality (US$Bn.)**|||||
|Lower|9.31|14.02|13.56|12.47|
|Central|14.87|22.36|21.63|19.90|
|Upper|20.39|30.65|29.65|27.29|

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