Clean coal-preparation barriers in Poland

Poland is the second biggest European producer of hard coal. This raw product is cleaned in 49 preparation plants. Production capacities of the preparation plants depend on the demand for coal. The clean-coal production mostly depends on the quality demands of customers. Polish hard-coal is of good quality. It is enough to remove grains of clean stone to get saleable products of ash content between 8 and 12%. Rarely the ash content is up to 15%. The coal can be cleaned to 4–6% ash content, but there is a very small demand for this type of coal. Gravity separation (via heavy liquids, jigs, cyclones) removes the grains of pure stone. Currently, no preparation of the coal after grinding is conducted.     

Modelling adaptation of the coal industry to sustainability conditions

Fossil fuels still constitute an important source of energy in the world, but they need to comply with more strict environmental requirements. The coal industry, the basic primary energy supplier to the Polish economy, not only faces new environmental regulations but also restructuring and changes in the industry's organisational structure. The issues of primary importance are the medium and long-term prospects of achieving a suitable quantity and quality of coal supplied, as well as suitable costs. The structure of power generation needs to adjust to emissions limits with given fuel supplies. The paper discusses the construction of a coal supply balancing system which has been developed and applied as a decision support for rational planning of the development of the Polish coal industry. It consists of two linked groups of models: coal supply and coal balancing. Such a structure allows it to respond to the problems emerging for the most part from new environmental regulations, and to select policies that will lead to sustainability in the industry.     

Stakeholder perceptions towards the transition to a hydrogen economy in Poland

Poland has significant reserves of energy in the form of coal. However, the exploitation of these reserves could lead to significant carbon emissions. Hydrogen technologies present a potentially sustainable option for the Polish energy system. This paper reviews the existing Polish energy system, resources, policies and measures from the perspective of planning a transition to a hydrogen-based economy. The key challenges and opportunities gathered by systematic consultation of senior stakeholders are presented. Coke oven gas and coal gasification are the major short and medium term sources of hydrogen. Underground conversion of coal deposits with integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) is most important in the long term. Other opportunities include development of renewables, by-product hydrogen and nuclear power. Current lack of infrastructure, particularly for CCS, hydrogen pipelines and clean coal is seen as a significant barrier. Regional and central government should cooperate with industry to develop a portfolio of demonstration projects to provide experience and stimulate demand for hydrogen.     

The market for low-sulphur coals under the restrictive environmental standards in Poland

This paper describes the low-sulphur coals market in Poland. It is a crucial issue question because these types of coals will be particularly in demand after the year 2005, when the Polish environmental standards will be more restrictive. This is applicable especially to the energy sector, which is the main consumer of coal in Poland. The purpose of this work is the evaluation of abilities to balance the quantity and quality of low-sulphur coal supplies to the basic consumers, which are domestic heat-and-power plant's and others. The article focuses on three key issues. The first one includes an analysis of the supply side of the coal market in Poland. The second concern is an overview of present and future emissions-standards for the energy sector. The third problem applies to the demand side of the coal market and describes the consequences of putting into operation related emissions standards. The analysis ends with conclusions and recommendations for applying an appropriate strategy to meet the new environmental regulations. Conditions under which the burning of low-sulphur coals can be sufficient to meet emissions standards are also described.     

Life-cycle assessment in the renewable energy sector

The Polish energy industry is facing challenges regarding energetic safety, competitiveness, improvement of domestic companies and environmental protection. Ecological guidelines concern the elimination of detrimental solutions, and effective energy management, which will form the basis for sustainable development. The Polish power industry is required to systematically increase the share of energy taken from renewable sources in the total energy sold to customers. Besides the economic issues, particular importance is assigned to environmental factors associated with the choice of energy source. That is where life-cycle assessment (LCA) is important. The main purpose of LCA is to identify the environmental impacts of goods and services during the whole life cycle of the product or service. Therefore LCA can be applied to assess the impact on the environment of electricity generation and will allow producers to make better decisions pertaining to environmental protection. The renewable energy sources analysed in this paper include the energy from photovoltaics, wind turbines and hydroelectric power. The goal and scope of the analysis comprise the assessment of environmental impacts of production of 1 GJ of energy from the sources mentioned above. The study will cover the construction, operation and waste disposal at each power plant. Analysis will cover the impact categories, where the environmental influence is the most significant, i.e. resource depletion, global warmth potential, acidification and eutrophication. The LCA results will be shown on the basis of European and Australian research. This analysis will be extended with a comparison between environmental impacts of energy from renewable and conventional sources. This report will conclude with an analysis of possibilities of application of the existing research results and LCA rules in the Polish energy industry with a focus on Poland's future accession to the European Union. Definitions of LCA fundamental concepts, its methodology and application are described in the ISO 14040-14049 series of standards. These standards have already been introduced in some countries, but in Poland they are still at the stage of translation into Polish. Nevertheless some companies in Poland try to assess how their products influence the environment and what are the possibilities of technology improvement in the existing production process reduce their environmental impact.     

Coal chemical industry and its sustainable development in China

China is rich in coal resource, which is vital for energy security in this country. In early 21st century, the coal chemical industry in China will be oriented to the development of high efficiency, safety, cleanliness, and optimum utilization. In this review, the authors present an introduction to the utilization status of primary energy production and consumption in China. Since 2005, fundamental research studies, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Chinese National Basic Research Program, have been carried out at Taiyuan University of Technology. The Ministry stresses that the new coal chemical industry should be developed in a sustainable manner to realize effective utilization of energy. Moreover, upgrading the high technology to improve actively the recycling processes of coal chemical engineering is of strategic importance to realize the modern coal chemical engineering.     

Hard coal for energetic purposes: price–quality relationships; international coal market observations and Polish practice

Coal is the most abundant and commonly used energy carrier in the world. In coal-producing countries, coal is often the cheapest fuel for electricity and heat production. Prices of steam coals offered by exporters on international markets reflect current economic and market conditions and are also related to the prices of other fossil fuels like crude oil and natural gas. International coal-market observations and analyses lead to the conclusion that steam-coal prices depend only on heating value. In Polish practice, steam-coal prices are calculated using a price formula in which coal price is a function of three quality parameters: net calorific value, ash content and sulphur content, and a price of ‘basic’ or ‘reference’ coal (which means: coal of defined quality). This paper presents the results of international coal-market analyses of relationships between coal price and quality and describes the Polish coal-pricing system. A new solution, relevant to domestic coal mines and power plants, is presented to improve and simplify the conditions of bilateral settlements of coal deliveries.     

Coal liquefaction policy in China: Explaining the policy reversal since 2006

China has emerged as a leader in coal liquefaction. While the country's abundant coal resources and acute concerns about oil security help explain China's interest in liquefaction, the driving forces for this industry are complicated and policy has been inconsistent. Since 2006 Beijing has tried to slow down the development of liquefaction; even as China has become more dependent on imported oil, the central government has been wary about the large impact of liquefaction technologies on scarce resources such as water. However, local government officials in coal rich areas have strong incentives to pour investment into the technology, which helps explain the uneven development and policy. The future of coal liquefaction will depend on how these forces unfold along with major Beijing-led reforms in the Chinese coal industry, which is closing smaller mines and favoring the emergence of larger coal producing firms. Those reforms will have mixed effects on liquefaction. They temporarily contribute to higher prices for coal while over the longer term creating coal companies that have much greater financial and technical skills needed to deploy technologies such as coal liquefaction at a scale needed if this energy pathway is to be competitive with conventional sources of liquid fuel.     

Lignite mining and electricity generation in Poland: The current state and future prospects

This opinion paper presents the current state and future scenarios of Polish lignite mining. For many years, over 1/3 of domestic electricity, that is about 53–55 TWh, has been generated by lignite-fired power plants. Currently, with 63–66 million tons of extraction, Poland is the fourth lignite producer worldwide and the second in the European Union. There are three possible scenarios for the development of lignite mining in Poland by 2050. Unfortunately, despite the huge lignite resources, amounting to more than 23.5 billion tons, and great potential of the mining industry, the future of Polish lignite mining does not look optimistic from the economic point of view. This is associated with social and environmental problems, including the European Union's climate and energy policy. However, this may change in the event of a global economic crisis and unstable geopolitical conditions. Therefore, a new energy doctrine for Poland at least by 2050 is urgently needed.     

Coal chars recovered from fly ash as promising electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

The endless and dramatic increase of global energy demand makes it imperative to develop sustainable, affordable, and efficient materials to act as electrocatalysts in the clean energy technologies. Electrocatalysts based on coal chars are promising materials as they can be considered as value-added by-products from coal combustion contributing to industrial ecology and circular economy. Therefore, herein we report the application of three sets of coal char (char concentrates before and after carbonization and demineralized and graphitized char concentrates) obtained from four different countries (Portugal, Romania, Poland, and South Africa) as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts. All electrocatalysts presented moderate ORR activity with some showing selectivity for the indirect two-electron process while others for a mixed regime between the two- and four-electron process. Still, the positive results obtained are better or in some cases comparable to commercial graphene. Moreover, all electrocatalysts presented good tolerance to methanol poisoning. More importantly, the results of this study demonstrate that pristine coal chars are promising materials to prepare efficient ORR electrocatalysts which will be of great importance in the near future.     

关于推进我国煤炭清洁生产与利用的相关思考

本文以我国煤炭清洁生产与利用现状为基础,分析了今后一个时期我国煤炭工业发展的外部环境,密切结合我国以煤为主的能源结构特点,重点提出了加快推进煤炭结构调整,加强煤炭产业链全过程管理,积极推广煤炭绿色开采,提高原煤洗选率,控制高耗能产业无序发展,推进清洁生产利用,有效控制污染物排放等政策措施和相关建议。     

中国电力工业管理体制改革成就与方向

本文总结了我国电力工业体制改革十年的成果和经验,提出通过二次改革扭转"因煤亏损"的发电企业困境。文章首次提出调整我国"煤本位"的能源管理格局,分析了十年来能源和电力产业发展战略的成果和经验,提出要进一步转变传统化石能源生产和消费的观念,以建立健全电力市场体系为切入点,促进电力工业清洁生产技术和智能电网技术与电力管理体制相协调,使中国电力工业再次引领清洁能源技术创新和国家经济可持续增长。     

Distinctive features of coal reconversion in the European Union

The phenomenon of industrial rationalization is part of our economic reality. The several rhythms of economic growth, besides the changes in the dynamic of the markets, the endowment of productive factors and the technological change, have made their study a complex task, in which there are elements to keep in mind and numerous points of view that could be adopted. Coal in Europe is in a particularly delicate situation. After more than three decades of restructuring and modernisation, the coal industry is still not competitive, when compared with world market prices, and the social situation of coal workers and coal communities is hard. The importance of these processes and their effects on the economic and social development in areas or regions in which the coal industry affects their whole activity, in our opinion, justifies our interest in deepening the knowledge of the complex reality of coal rationalization. Our objective is to offer an overall impression of the coal sector in the European Union as well as the main instruments for economic and social regeneration in the coal regions.     

Growing Chinese coal use: Dramatic resource and environmental implications

Chinese coal consumption continues to rise as the country's economy and industry expand. Coal is particularly critical for China's fast-growing power sector, generating about 80% of electricity output. Notwithstanding the importance of coal and electricity, many international forecasts today underestimate their rising use in China. This paper acknowledges the current world financial crisis and assumes that Chinese GDP growth to 2025 will not again approach double-digit levels. Using the scenario analysis, this paper demonstrates that even with conservative assumptions about Chinese GDP growth and income elasticity of electric demand to 2025, the country will likely experience much higher coal demand and emit much greater volumes of carbon dioxide than forecast by various international energy agencies. The paper also analyzes how China's domestic coal reserves may be threatened within two decades, possibly affecting long-term economic growth in China, as well as world coal prices.     

Residual coal exploitation and its impact on sustainable development of the coal industry in China

Although China owns large coal reserves, it now faces the problem of depletion of its coal resources in advance. The coal-based energy mix in China will not change in the short term, and a means of delaying the coal resources depletion is therefore urgently required. The residual coal was exploited first with a lower recovery percentage and was evaluated as commercially valuable damaged coal. This approach is in comparison to past evaluations when the residual coal was allocated as exploitation losses. Coal recovery rates, the calculation method of residual coal reserves and statistics of its mines in China were given. On this basis, a discussion concerning the impacts on the delay of China's coal depletion, development of coal exploitation and sustainable developments, as well as technologies and relevant policies, were presented. It is considered that the exploitation of residual coal can effectively delay China's coal depletion, inhibit the construction of new mines, redress the imbalance between supply and demand of coal in eastern China, improve the mining area environment and guarantee social stability. The Chinese government supports the exploitation technologies of residual coal. Hence, exploiting residual coal is of considerable importance in sustainable development of the coal industry in China.     

洁净煤技术产业化是山西煤炭工业发展的必然选择

山西以煤为主的单一能源格局以及洁净煤技术产业化进程滞后,导致了山西以煤烟型为主的大气污染相当严重,成为制约山西经济与社会发展的重要因素。山西要切实转变工业增长方式,增强技术创新能力,积极采用高新技术和先进适用技术,加快传统产业技术改造,努力使山西煤炭工业发展成为社会效益与煤炭工业健康发展相统一、环保要求与煤炭企业经济效益相一致的新型煤炭工业。推进洁净煤技术产业化,促进煤炭深度加工、洁净燃烧、提高效率、减少污染,既是山西经济和社会可持续发展的需要,也是山西煤炭工业发展的必然选择。     

2019年煤炭供需形势分析及2020年展望

2019年,全国煤炭产量稳步增长,优质产能得到释放,区域集中度较大提升,进出口贸易相对稳定。全社会煤炭消费小幅度回升,煤炭占一次能源比重进一步下降。总体上全国煤炭市场供需相对宽松,煤炭价格稳中有降,并于年底回落“绿色区间”,安全生产和运行能力持续增强,智能化开采技术应用加快。展望2020年,国内煤炭产能有望继续稳步释放,煤炭需求总量微增、煤炭占能源需求总量比重将进一步下降,煤炭价格有下降空间。建议进一步完善应急供应保障体系,减少局时局地可能出现的供应紧张问题,加快智能化开采技术应用,提升煤矿安全生产水平,持续推进煤炭产业高质量发展。     

Prospects of green hydrogen in Poland: A techno-economic analysis using a Monte Carlo approach

The European Commission's plan to decarbonize the economy using innovative energy carriers has brought into question whether the national targets for developing electrolysis technologies are sufficiently ambitious to establish a local hydrogen production industry. While several research works have explored the economic viability of individual green hydrogen production and storage facilities in the Western European Member States, only a few studies have examined the prospects of large-scale green hydrogen production units in Poland. In this study, a Monte Carlo-based model is proposed and developed to investigate the underlying economic and technical factors that may impact the success of the Polish green hydrogen strategy. Moreover, it analyzes the economics of renewable hydrogen at different stages of technological development and market adoption. This is achieved by characterizing the local meteorological conditions of Polish NUTS-2 regions and comparing the levelized cost of hydrogen in such regions in 2020, 2030, and 2050. The results show the geographical locations where the deployment of large-scale hydrogen production units will be most cost effective.