Germany-based utilities firm E.ON has confirmed that it is one step closer in creating a new generation of clean coal-fired power stations in the UK, after it successfully started burning coal in pure oxygen.
The ‘oxyfuel’ work was conducted at the company’s Power Technology combustion test facility in Nottinghamshire, where it is continuing its research.
Once the effects of such a combustion process are further understood, researchers will seek to ‘capture’ the pure carbon dioxide that results from the process and store it underground so that it will never be released into the atmosphere.
Bob Taylor, E.ON UK board member with special responsibility for innovation, said: This is a major step for us and our industry. It is early days and we’re studying the effects of such a process very closely but it gives us the possibility of creating a whole new generation of coal-fired power stations that do not contribute to climate change.
We’re looking at a number of potential ways of doing that – including ‘scrubbing’ out the carbon dioxide with amine and gasifying the coal – but it’s clear that we need a number of options as we battle against global warming, he continued.
E.ON UK has already submitted a S36 application to construct two new cleaner coal-fired units at Kingsnorth power station in Kent.