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Charcoal is one of the most essential energy sources in the world and is used mainly for domestic and industrial purposes. Brazilian charcoal production occurs in rudimentary masonry kilns without concern for process safety or energy waste. This work aimed to develop a mini carbonization system of three kilns coupled to a vertical smoke burner for optimized and environmentally correct charcoal and wood vinegar (WV) production on small farms. The project was divided into three parts for dimensioning: the three-kiln set, the WV condensing device, and the smoke burner. The condenser was designed following the procedures from the standards of TEMA (Tubular Exchangers Manufacturers Association); ASME (Society of Mechanical Engineers of the United States) Section VIII, Division 1; and the NR-13 (Regulatory Standard) of ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). In contrast to the current scenario, in which primitive carbonization technologies are still employed, bringing about low charcoal yields and significant pollution release, the use of a mini-kiln that allows charcoal production and wood vinegar recovery combined with pollutant smoke burning is an interesting eco-friendly solution. Thus, the mini-kiln model presented here brings a low cost and environmental safety to the charcoal production chain, reaching sustainability parameters and offering higher income opportunities to small producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I have been reasonably critical of hyperbolic statements about how to overhaul the regulation of electric utilities in the new digital, decentralized, decarbonized (the “Three Ds”) world for electric power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport sector significantly influences the decarbonization of the entire energy system. In this study, carbon tax scenario analyses with application of the TIMES model are carried out for China and USA to advance the understanding of the transport service demands, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions from a comparison perspective. Model results suggest that liquid fuels will keep dominating the transport energy consumption, while biofuels and electrification will facilitate the decarbonization of the transport sector both in China and USA. However, substantial differences exist between the two countries regarding the transport development pathways. FCEVs will be developed earlier and faster in USA and can fulfill 10% of the road passenger services in 2050 in USA, while less than 2% in China in TAX20 scenario; Carbon tax will raise the total energy system cost by 24% in China and 8% in USA in 2050 in TAX50 scenario and the additional cost of electricity in USA will be lower than that in China. It’s also observed that the transport sector reacts to the carbon policy less and later than other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing cleaner coal technologies that would mitigate the environmental effects of burning coal, including emissions of SOx, NOx, particulate matter and carbon dioxide, remains a critical task. Though the United States has led the development of cleaner coal technologies, that picture is rapidly evolving as China becomes a major user, developer and constructor of cleaner coal technology. This article explores the implications of these technological developments and market shifts for the future of cleaner coal technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of manufactured gas plants operated in the United States for more than 150 years and were important to the industrial and social development of the country. There are many people who have contributed to the development of economical methods of manufactured gas production. While there were other factors, the decline in the use of manufactured gas was largely due to improvements in the long-distance transmission of natural gas, the development of oil-burning equipment, and the availability of electricity. The decline in manufactured gas use changed the gas utility industry from a manufacturing industry to a gas distribution industry. An understanding of the historically important processes can assist in the study of former gas plant sites since the raw materials, reactors, and appurtenances employed and the residuals produced can vary with the production process employed. A recent paper published in Environmental Forensics by Murphy et al., 2005 grouped historical and process aspects of manufactured gas production processes together while focused on evaluating accidental versus intentional disposal at manufactured gas plant sites. This paper separately reviews the raw materials, processes employed, gases produced and residuals generated by each of the historically important town gas processes in order to emphasize the differences between the processes. Gasification processes and the associated fuel gas produced include: producer gas consisting of carbon monoxide and hydrogen; carburetted water gas consisting of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and illuminants, and oil gas consisting of hydrogen and methane with lesser amount of carbon monoxide and illuminants. Coal gas is produced from the carbonization of coal and consists of hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, and illuminants. Each of the town gas processes discussed (i.e., coal gas, oil gas and carburetted water gas) contained water vapor, tar, naphthalene and hydrogen sulfide as impurities. The removal of these impurities resulted in residuals containing these components. Water vapor was removed as condensate. Tar-water emulsions were common to oil gas and carburetted water gas processes that used heavy oils or asphaltic-based oils. Emulsions were not common from processes that used lighter oils or from coal gas processes. Carburetted water gas tars are similar to oil gas tars but are lower in filterable carbon. Unlike coal gas tar, carburetted water gas and oil gas tars do not contain tar acids, nor is ammonia liquor produced in these processes. Much of the naphthalene would be removed with the tar. Additional naphthalene could be removed with wash oil. In the oil gas process, naphthalene was removed using a wash oil and the used wash oil was recycled into the gas-making oil. Town gas purifier wastes generally contained sulfides, but cyanide-bearing purifier wastes were common only to coal gas processes. Lampblack was generated in significant quantities only from the oil gas process. Coal gas processes produced coke. Petroleum ash was generated from the oil gas process. Coal ash and clinker were generated in the producer gas and carburetted water gas process, but not from the oil gas or coal gas processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The section of "The Production of Man-Made Fibres" focuses on carbon fibres. This fibre has been in existence for nearly ninety years and invention of the electric-lamp filament was made by carbonizing such fibre precursors as cotton and viscose rayon. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, made the effort to make high-strength carbon-fibres. They developed the difficult technique of stretching viscose rayon up to 50% at a temperature in the vicinity of 2,000°C to give a carbon fibre with improved mechanical properties. Members of the Royal Aircraft Establishment invented a technique for improving fibre orientation by restraining the natural shrinkage of the fibre during the initial carbonization at quite a low temperature.

The article reports on the nonconformity between the environmental groups and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the use of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal plants in the U.S. Environmentalists and many state officials believe that coal gasification is an answer to clean coal technology, yet, they are frustrated that EPA has created barriers to the technology. The lawsuit filed by environmental groups against EPA is conciliated after the agency settled that it is discouraging gasification. Details about the IGCC technology are cited.

The article reports on the plan offered by the U.S. for the climate technologies in the country. The government has released its plan, U.S. Climate Change Technology Program Strategic Plan to encourage voluntary reductions of climate-affecting gases. This plan takes a long-term view of technological development and describes $3 billion program for encouraging technology that might slow climate change. According to the report, several programs were also under way at the Department of Energy, it includes the $1 billion FutureGen, a plan for a coal-fired plant based on coal gasification that was nearly emission-free.