Lignite 1

Advantages And Disadvantages of Lignite in Producing Energy Bar Kalebek Mert Yener Bayrak Faculty of Mining 050070405 050070420

English 201 Zeynep iman en December 28, 2010

Lignite 2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Lignite in Producing Energy

Thesis: The use of lignite in order to produce energy has many advantages such as temperature rate, reserve potentials and being economical despite being a reason of serious environmental problems I. Reserves potentials A. Reserve fullness 1. Reserve duration 2. Quantity B. Homogeneous spread all over the world II. Temperature rate A. Thermal reactors 1. Abundance of lignite 2. Energy security B. Heating 1. Ignition temperature a. Cement industry 2. Easy supply III. Economical advantages A. Lower price than others 1. Solar power 2. Oil B. Transporting expenses IV. Environmental problems A. On people

Lignite 3 1. Decrease of air quality a. Mercury poisoning b. Respiratory problems 2. Accidents a. Coal stove poisoning B. On the world 1. Greenhouse gasses emission

Lignite 4 There is no doubt that energy will still keep its place as a main source of production in the near future. There is a tight bond between energy sources and development of industry. Energy sources are classified as fossil and non-fossil energy sources. Today, most used fossil fuels are, oil, natural gas and coal. In addition, coal is the one which have been used for the longest time among others. According to Ateok, it is known that lignite had been used Middle Asia and China until B.C. for ironworking (2009, p. 22). Moreover, lignite plays a big role in providing energy to industry. The use of lignite in order to produce energy has many advantages such as temperature rate, reserve potentials and being economical despite being a reason of serious environmental problems. First and probably the most important advantage of lignite is reserve potentials. One of the major advantages is reserve fullness which includes the quantity and duration of lignite reserves in the world. Thielemann, Schmidt and Gerling (2007) assert that until 2100, average coal, which is a raw-material, will not be burdensome due to its adequate and available reserves (p. 5). In the light of this explanation, it can be said that lignite is one of the sustainable energy sources. In addition, Thielemann et al. report it is clear to see that most of the reserves are located in Asia (63,2 Gt). Oceania follows it with 42,5 Gt reserves, and also Europe has 40,5 Gt energy source which is lignite. If the America is compared in itself, North part of America (37 Gt) has more lignite reserve than Central and South parts of America (total 5,6 Gt); however, least sources of lignite is located in content of Africa (2007, p. 8). According to the statistics above although Africa has less lignite reserves, it does not prove that these reserves will run out in a short time because termination time depends on frequency and quantity of use of these materials. In brief, the quantity and duration of lignite reserves are very important advantages utilized for industrial energy sources. A second major advantage of lignite is homogeneous spread all over the world. Coal stocks of the world are dispersed homogenously, the USA, Russia, China and India are on the

Lignite 5 top of the list that, include half of countries in the world (WCI, 2005, p. 3). As it clear from this example, one can conclude that coal reserves are dispersed in every continent and the powerful countries have coal reserves because these countries consume energy with high rate. Thanks to coal technologies, possibly energy wars can be prevented. In brief, homogeneous spread is a significant specialty for coal being preferred. Secondly, because of temperature rate, lignite in used for producing energy has many advantages. To begin with, lignite is a source which is used in thermal reactors due to its abundance of lignite and energy security. According to Thielemann et al., lignite is the one of the energy sources which guarantees to be used for long times as an evidence of this longterm use (2007, p. 13). Permanence is an important for energy producing since thermal power station construction which requires high cost. In addition, energy security is another advantage. Energy security, includes uninterruptible source cut negatively affects not only power plants, but also every industry. WCI reports that thanks to not raising geopolitical and safety issues, being easily stored and independant of weather conditions, coal is significant for energy security because it minimizes the risk of disruptions (2005, pp. 16-17). In the light of this explanation, it can be said that coal has many advantages to be used as an energy source. In short, energy security and abundance of lignite are important for producing energy with thermal reactors. In addition, lignite is preferred for heating because of ignition temperature and easy supply. According to lignite ignition temperature experiment conducted by Varol, Atimtay, Bay and Olgun, there is an inverse ratio is between VM (volatile matter) rate and ignition temperature (2010, p. 201). Moreover, Ateok claims that coal used in the cement industry must have some properties also the coal must have high VM ratio (2009, p. 89). Two studies prove that lignite with high VM rate ignites and after that reaches high temperature rate. Furthermore, many supporters can be reachable for lignite. Because of homogenous

Lignite 6 disruption, coal supply is not big coast in time. To sum up, lignite is utilized for heating because in terms of ignition temperature and easy supply, lignite is suitable. Thirdly, lignite is the best fossil fuel as a consequence of its economical advantages. To begin with, lignite is cheaper than other fossil and non-fossil energy resources such as solar power and oil. As an example, solar power is one of the most expensive energy resources. It sets back only 6 US cents to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity from coal, on the other hand, the price for solar power is about 40 cents (Caploe, 2010, para. 9). Based on this example, there is a long way to use solar power as main energy resource coming years. Besides this, setting up a new solar plant is far more expensive than other energy plants due to loss of efficiency during transporting the energy. Moreover, the changing the number of sunny days year after year is another important issue behind distrust to this power. These facts show that there are significant differences between lignite and solar power in terms of their economical expenses. In addition to solar power, oil is another expensive energy resource. One of main reason of oil being so expensive is that oil and its by products are widely used in areas such as heating, fuel and inhibited materials. Accordingly the comparison table made by Coal and Heat, for the same heat ratio, the price of oil is $300 where as that of coal is only $59 (2010, para. 2). That nearly six time difference between prices shows clearly that nonsense expensiveness. These facts show that utilizing lignite provides higher profits to users in energy sector. Apart from being lower price than others, lignite has low transporting expenses. It is transported all over the world through ships, trucks with ruinous prices. Rail transporting offers about the same delivery speed as trucks over long distances and exceeds transport speeds via marine waterways. On the other hand, water transportation makes it easier to move products all over the world. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in the United States, about half of the coal carried by raid is transported by unit trains, groupings of 100 or more cars of

Lignite 7 100 to 110 ton capacity each. Unit trains generally carry 10,000 to 15,000 tons of coal in a single shipment. In addition, maintenance, lasting upkeep of high-pressure pipelines and wide security are not needed to transporting of lignite unlike the other fossil fuels (2009,para. 4). Besides, leakage puncture of pipelines bring about loss huge amount of oil. In conclusion, low transporting expenses is an important parameter in selection of energy resources. Finally, using lignite causes environmental problems although it has lots of advantages. To start with, consuming lignite affects humans by both decreasing air quality and causing accidents. First of all, in case lignite is main fuel of coal fired power plants, poisonous gasses and toxic materials come off as remnant product from power plants. Of growing concern are toxic air emissions from coal fired power plants such as mercury. Mercury which is released by coal fired plants up to %33 of entire mercury emissions brings about serious health problems especially on pregnant women and their unborn babies via eating fish exposed to poisonous water (GASP, n.d., para. 3). Moreover, coal fired power plants are also the largest source of sulfur dioxide which in turn produces sulfates that are very fine particulates. Fine particle pollution such as sulfates is responsible for decreasing lifetime of over 30,000 people as well as respiratory problems, leading to asthma attacks and cardiac problems. This clearly is a serious threat to the humans. Aside from using lignite decreases air quality, it also causes accidents as using coal stove. Coal stove is would rather used than radiator because of being cheap in villages or places where are far away from cities. According to Ylmaz, Alp, Cavusoglu carbon monoxide which is produced by not fully combustion of lignite is deadly, odorless, colorless gas. Because of high attachment ratio, carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin and prevents transportation of oxygen to blood cells. Therefore, a slow death of the cells becomes inevitable (2004, pp. 8). All things considered, it can be said that because of serious impact of coal combustion on health, people should be dedicated to significantly and rapidly reducing the health risks.

Lignite 8 Besides its effects on people, the World is also damaged via Greenhouse gasses emissions. We use coal to generate electricity, heat our homes, power our factories. That fossil fuel contains carbon, and when it is burned, it combines with oxygen, forming carbon dioxide which is responsible for greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases, which emerge naturally or as a result of human activities, hold heat in the atmosphere, and it is the reason of greenhouse effect (EPA, n.d., para. 2-3). The effects of greenhouse gases make irreversible changes in climates. In conclusion, the activities, which is necessary to sustain lives of people has led to release of carbon to atmosphere dramatically. To sum up, in spite of its negatively effects on people and nature, lignite utilized for industrial energy source because calorific value of lignite is high, reserve opportunities are eligible and selling price is inexpensive. Other fossil fuel sources are not reliable or are consumed. Under these circumstances, coal gains economic worth. Coal keeps its place in the world despite the increasing demand for clean energy sources. In fact, clean energy is still far away from producing energy in industrial scales. Moreover, thanks to development of mineral processing technologies harmful effects of coal are removed, therefore, coal reserves have preserved their economic value for almost two centuries.

Lignite 9 References Alp, A. , avuolu, . , & Ylmaz, A. (2004). Coal stove poisoning and prevautions to be taken. Paper presented at 14th Turkey Coal Congress, Zonguldak, Turkey, from http://www.maden.org.tr/resimler/ekler/7785e0500ad16c1_ek.pdf Ateok, G. (2004). Kmr hazrlama ve teknolojisi[Coal process and technologies], stanbul, Yurt Madenciliini Gelitirme Vakf Yaynlar Caploe, D. (2010). Coals incredible comeback- but at what environmental expense. from http://oilprice.com/Energy/Coal/Coals-Incredible-Comeback--But-at-WhatEnvironmental-Expense.html Coal And Heat Inc. (2010), How does the cost of coal compare to oil heat? October, 2010, from http://www.coalandheat.com/compare.html EPA. (2010). Greenhouse gas emissions, July 9, 2010, from http://www.epa.gov /climatechange/emissions/index.html GASP. (2003). Air pollution from coal combustion. June 23, 2003, from http://www.gasppgh.org/gasp-in-action/air-pollution-from-coal-combustion Oil Price. (2009). Coal - cheap fuel or environmental catastrophe?. September 23, 2009, from http://oilprice.com/Energy/Coal/Coal-Cheap-Fuel-Or-Environmental-Catastrophe.html Thielemann, T., Schmidt, S.&Gerling J. P. (2007). Lignite and hard coal: Energy suppliers for world needs until the year 2100 An Outlook, International Journal of Coal Geology, 72, 1-14. Retrieved 2010, from Science Direct database Varol, M., Atimtay, A.T., Bay, B.,Olgun, H. (2010). Investigation of co-combustion characteristics of low quality lignite coals and biomass with thermogravimetric

Lignite 10 analysis, Thermochimica Acta 510, 195201. Retrieved 2010, from Science Direct database. World Coal Institute. (2005). The coal resource a comprehensive overwiev of coal, Retrieved 2010, from http://www.worldcoal.org/bin/pdf/original_pdf_file/coal_ resource_overview_of_coal_report(03_06_2009).pdf