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Retrofitting coal power units with biomass and coal cofiring technology provides a promising pathway toward low-carbon transition. However, such a retrofitting approach may also pose potential environmental and health risks, even aggravating regional disparities. Here, we propose a comprehensive framework to evaluate the associated risks of Biomass and Coal Cofiring Retrofit (BCCR) in China. We find that air pollutants such as SO 2 , PM 2.5 , and NO x will increase by an average of 27.9, 38.04, and 42.79% respectively compared to the scenario with no BCCR. The national-wide PM 2.5 concentration-related premature mortalities in scenarios with BCCR are projected to increase by 23.53% on average in 2030. Moreover, the Highest-20% of provinces with higher health risks (also health vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children concentrated area) are 19 times greater than that in the Lowest-20% group. Results suggest that implementing a Targeted Pollution Control strategy for areas with higher health risks would be an economical and effective way to reduce the total pollutants emissions and mitigate the regional disparities in health risks. Our research proposes stringent pollution control measures on biomass and coal cofiring retrofit in advance in regions with the utmost necessity to facilitate a fair transition toward clean energy.

Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) caused an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide in 2015. However, PM emission standards for power plants vary widely. To explore if the current levels of these standards are sufficiently stringent in a simple cost-benefit framework, we compared the health benefits (avoided monetized health costs) with the control costs of tightening PM emission standards for coal-fired power plants in Northeast (NE) Brazil, where ambient PM concentrations are below World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. We considered three Brazilian PM 10 (PM x refers to PM with a diameter under x micrometers) emission standards and a stricter U.S. EPA standard for recent power plants. Our integrated methodology simulates hourly electricity grid dispatch from utility-scale power plants, disperses the resulting PM 2.5 , and estimates selected human health impacts from PM 2.5 exposure using the latest integrated exposure-response model. Since the emissions inventories required to model secondary PM are not available in our study area, we modeled only primary PM so our benefit estimates are conservative. We found that tightening existing PM 10 emission standards yields health benefits that are over 60 times greater than emissions control costs in all the scenarios we considered. The monetary value of avoided hospital admissions alone is at least four times as large as the corresponding control costs. These results provide strong arguments for considering tightening PM emission standards for coal-fired power plants worldwide, including in regions that meet WHO guidelines and in developing countries., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The emission of sulfur compounds during the combustion of coal is the main cause of atmospheric pollution and poses a threat to human health and the ecosystem. Thus, elimination of sulfur compounds from coal before its use is compulsory, and hence, coal desulfurization has become the key solution. In the present study, ultrasonic-assisted oxidative desulfurization of coal was conducted utilizing H2O2 in the presence of choline chloride/Acetic acid (ChCl/AcA) deep eutectic solvents (DESs). Three coal samples from different areas of Punjab were received for the investigation. The DES ChCl/AcA possesses sulfur removal efficiency of up to 58–64% pyritic sulfur, 54–63% sulfate sulfur, and 48–54% total sulfur from different coal samples. In addition to inorganic sulfur removal, a considerable decrease in organic sulfur 38–41% has been obtained using ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization. FTIR study has shown that the treated coal samples have decreased sulfur contents as compared to untreated coal samples along with no significant change in the calorific values. These outcomes open new paths headed for more energy-effective and cleaner coal, utilizing cost-effective DESs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) caused an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide in 2015. However, PM emission standards for power plants vary widely. To explore if the current levels of these standards are sufficiently stringent in a simple cost-benefit framework, we compared the health benefits (avoided monetized health costs) with the control costs of tightening PM emission standards for coal-fired power plants in Northeast (NE) Brazil, where ambient PM concentrations are below World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. We considered three Brazilian PM10 (PMx refers to PM with a diameter under x micrometers) emission standards and a stricter U.S. EPA standard for recent power plants. Our integrated methodology simulates hourly electricity grid dispatch from utility-scale power plants, disperses the resulting PM2.5, and estimates selected human health impacts from PM2.5 exposure using the latest integrated exposure-response model. Since the emissions inventories required to model secondary PM are not available in our study area, we modeled only primary PM so our benefit estimates are conservative. We found that tightening existing PM10 emission standards yields health benefits that are over 60 times greater than emissions control costs in all the scenarios we considered. The monetary value of avoided hospital admissions alone is at least four times as large as the corresponding control costs. These results provide strong arguments for considering tightening PM emission standards for coal-fired power plants worldwide, including in regions that meet WHO guidelines and in developing countries.

We studied the contribution of coal-fired power plant (CPP) emissions (SO _2 and NO x ) to air pollution levels and annual excess mortality by cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in Europe, based on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations computed with a regional atmospheric chemistry-transport model. The health burden of European CPP emission-induced PM2.5, estimated with the Global Exposure Mortality Model, amounts to at least 16 800 (CI95 14 800–18 700) excess deaths per year over the European domain. We identified an underestimation of the emissions magnitude and correcting for it doubles CPP-attributed annual excess mortality to 33 900 (CI95 33 000–37 600) per year. Due to the non-linearity of exposure-responses, especially at relatively low concentrations, these estimates represent lower limits of possible health benefits for the EU-28 states. CPP emission phase-out would avoid 18 400 (CI95 16 000–20 500) excess deaths annually assuming background PM2.5 levels of 10 μ g m ^−3 , 25 500 (CI95 22 600–28 200) per year if pollution levels from other sources are reduced by 50% in parallel, and 105 900 (CI95 89 900–121 700) deaths by drastically reducing anthropogenic pollution from other sources to 2.4 μ g m ^−3 that represents the threshold for health impacts. Depending on the emission scenario, large health gains can be achieved from the phase-out of CPP emissions, which calls for coordinated air pollution control strategies at the European level.

Performance-based contracting (PBC) is applied to Chinese industry for cleaner production, which is characterized by the payment made on measurable environmental outcome. Policy, technology, market, and capital are four elements that co-shape PBC where the synthesized effects are hard for intuition to tell. This study introduced an original interdisciplinary assessment model of PBC for SO 2 emission control in Chinese coal power plants that involves key environmental policies including command-and-control regulations, market-based approaches, and administrative measures, as well as technology, market, and capital variables. The evaluation showed that in key regions, both pollution levy programs 8 and 10 CNY/kg SO 2 (with the only penalty of concentration) could drive total emission amount close to regulatory targets. Interest expenses seem less relevant to SO 2 abatement cost in terms of the whole contract period; however, it can raise the SO 2 abatement cost similar to the service premium in the first few years. Fluctuation of power market is a business risk to PBC. As unitization hours of generator sets decrease from 4760 to 4115 h/y, the proportion of profits in the income decreased from 12.12 to 4.16%. Since payment is made on the basis of emission verification, economic benefits can represent both environmental and economic benefits. Profits and financial chain of the contractor depending on the synthesized effects of technology, capital, market, and tax policy. Sensitivity analysis quantitatively indicates technical factor as crucial; however, the buyer's business fluctuation is the real key to operational sustainability. The method was proved useful to integrated policy assessment at project level and PBC managerial decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Source Review (NSR) is a Clean Air Act regulation that requires electric utilities to meet emission standards when making modifications to existing power plants. The regulation increases the cost of replacing worn out parts, and limits the firm’s scope of potential capital investments. Such restrictions may lead to greater retirements and lower utilization, adversely affecting profits. Prior to the 2000 presidential election, investors expected Bush to have a narrower interpretation of NSR than Gore. Therefore, we use changes in stock prices to estimate the effect on profits of differences in NSR policy. Our results indicate that investors expected the average boiler to be $38 million more valuable under the Bush administration. Over the boilers’ lifetimes, the additional utilization will have increased emissions by 19 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 5.9 million tons of nitrogen oxides and 980 million tons of carbon dioxide, relative to natural gas generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]