Green & Renewable Coal To Save The Planet
Coal may be getting a second chance. But not fossil coal – that gets to stay underground – but green and fully renewable bio-coal made from biomass.
Image by Pavlofox from Pixabay
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Abracadabra – Plants Turn Into Coal
Whether you like it or not coal is heading to its final stretch. But maybe not as fast as you might think. Thanks to a new technology that is coming from China it could be only coal mines that are in immediate danger. This technology makes coal from plant-waste bringing us bio-coal that is renewable and green. Just ironic.
Bio-fuel Improved
Our planet is going through climate change and one of the main villains is carbon dioxide emissions. Many research teams all over the world are searching for technologies that could allow us to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. An interesting option could be bio-coal that much greener compared to its notorious fossil counterpart.
So far, the most used way of utilizing plant-waste as a source of energy is biofuels. But bio-fuels themselves tend to have several issues. For example, they tend to be on the corrosive side of things, arent that chemically stable and maybe the worst part is that they aren't very economically profitable.
A Chinese team found that when you use bio-fuel to create bio-coal it could be economically viable. When a bio-fuel is heated to 240° Celsius it creates a dark and tough material that is eerily similar to black coal. When the researchers tested their “green coal” they found they can easily heat water with it or get a turbine running.
The Benefits Of Bio-Coal
The creators of the technology add that bio-coal may be made from a good number of materials that we would consider plant-waste. Things like rice peels, sawdust, strays, bagasse (the waste from sugarcanes), or even the remains of soy. But the best seems to be rice peels and those are easily available in large areas of the world while being very cheap.
Another benefit that was shown is that the bio-coal releases less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Thus, bio-coal could be easily used instead of traditional fossil coal without all the costs associated with turning to more traditional green technologies such as solar or wind. If this was the case in China and all fossil coal was replaced with bio-coal it would lower the emissions by 748 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. That is 6 % of the total emissions produced by China.
And of course, bio-coal could replace current bio-fuels. The researchers also emphasize that their technology wouldn't require any land that would replace land that is currently used for growing crops for consumption. This is because it uses the waste that comes from crops used at this time.
And the last benefit, the bio-coal is “clean” it does have large amounts of dangerous elements and substances such as zinc, lead, manganese, or cadmium that are common in fossil coal and get into the atmosphere when burning it.
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