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Coal: Energy for the Future (1995)

Chapter: GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS

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Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×

Glossary and Conventions

COST OF COAL CONVERSION PROCESSES

The cost of producing electricity or clean gaseous and liquid fuels from coal is highly dependent on the level of capital investment and, therefore, on the return required by investors. This return depends on both the prime rate, which reflects the anticipated effects of inflation and the desire of the Federal Reserve Bank to control inflation, and the investors' assessment of risk.

The electric utility industry, with its relatively predictable selling prices for electricity and stable production costs, can attract capital at a lower prime rate than, for example, the oil industry, where future product and feedstock prices are much less certain. Major investments are frequently split between a component with relatively assured, but lower, return and a higher-return component that will incur a larger risk. In the utility industry, a substantially larger component of low-risk borrowed money is more common than in the petroleum industry, where 100 percent equity financing has been more commonly practiced. Hence, the term ''utility financing" is frequently used to describe highly leveraged investments, whereas "petroleum financing" describes investments with the smaller component of borrowed money generally employed in that industry.

The costs presented by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and used in this report are based on leveraged financing. Key assumptions are summarized below.1 It has also been assumed that sufficient plants have been built to reach a stable cost (nth plant costs; see Chapter 8).

1  

DOE, 1993, Direct Coal Liquefaction Baseline Design and System Analysis: Final Report on Baseline and Improved Baseline, Executive Summary, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy, Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center, under contract no. DEAC22 90PC89857, DOE, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×

Key assumptions for capital cost estimation:

Bank interest rate (percent)

8

Percent equity

25

Percent internal rate of return

15

Years of construction

4

Years of operation

25

Depreciation, years

10

Maintenance, percent initial capital

1

Working capital, percent revenue

10

Working capital, percent liquid

50

Owner's cost, percent initial

capital, first-year operation

5

Federal income tax rate, percent

34

General inflation, percent

3

Raw material price escalation,

percent (same as general inflation)

3

State tax

0

General inflation of 3 percent per year was applied to all costs and selling prices. As mentioned above, an assumed rate of inflation was included in the investment required by investors.

ECONOMIC CONVENTIONS

Throughout this report, all costs, prices, and so forth, are given in constant 1992 dollars unless otherwise specified. A Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price Deflator2 has been used to adjust current dollars to 1992 dollar figures. An exception is DOE budget data, which are quoted in current dollars.

THERMAL EFFICIENCY

Throughout this report all thermal efficiency figures are based on the higher heating value (HHV) of fuel, which is the convention most widely used in the United States for coal-based systems. HHV credits the fuel with the heat of vaporization of water formed in the combustion reaction; that is, water is assumed to exist in the liquid phase after combustion. This is consistent with the standard thermodynamic conditions of 25 °C (77 °F) and 1 atmospheric pressure used to calculate the heat of formation or reaction of any chemical compound (recall that "heating value" is simply the name commonly used for the heat of reaction of a hydrocarbon used as fuel).

2  

EIA, 1994, Annual Energy Review 1993, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, DOE/EIA-0384(93), DOE, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×

In parts of Europe and elsewhere, however, the lower heating value (LHV) is commonly used in reporting thermal efficiencies. In the United States LHV is commonly used to quote efficiencies based on natural gas as a fuel. The LHV assumes that water formed in combustion remains in a vapor state, as in actual combustion systems that discharge flue gases at temperatures of several hundred degrees. Thus, the energy potentially recoverable by condensing water in the flue gas is assumed to be unavailable and not credited to the fuel. Since the LHV assumes that fuel delivers less energy input than the HHV, any thermodynamic efficiency, E, based on LHV will be higher than one based on HHV in simple inverse proportion; that is, ELHV/EHHv = HHV/LHV.

The numerical difference between LHV and HHV depends on the fuel. The difference is smallest for coal (where LHV is roughly 4 percent less than HHV) and greatest for natural gas (where LHV is about 10 percent lower). Accordingly, a power plant efficiency of 40 percent based on HHV would be reported as 42 percent based on LHV using coal and about 44 percent based on LHV using natural gas.


ABB

Asea Brown Boveri

AFBC

Atmospheric fluidized-bed combustion

Anthracite

Highest rank of economically useable coal, with a heating value of 15,000 Btu per pound, carbon content of 86 to 97 percent, and moisture content of less than 15 percent

APC

Advanced pulverized coal

APS

Advanced power system

AR&ET

Advanced research and environmental technology

AR&TD

Advanced research and technology development

ATS

Advanced turbine system


Baseload

Baseload is the minimum amount of power required during a specified period at a steady state.

Bbl

Barrel

Bituminous coal

Type of coal most commonly used for electric power generation, with a heating value of 10,500 to 15,000 Btu per pound, carbon content of 45 to 86 percent, and moisture content of less than 20 percent

Btu

British thermal unit


CAAA

Clean Air Act amendments

CCT

Clean coal technology

CCTC

Clean Coal Technology Coalition

CE

Combustion Engineering

CH4

Methane

Cl

Chlorine

CO

Carbon monoxide

CO2

Carbon dioxide

Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×

COM

Coal-oil mixture

CWM

Coal-water mixture

CWS

Coal-water slurry


DOE

U.S. Department of Energy

DRB

Demonstrated reserve base

DSM

Demand-side management; DSM programs are instituted by utilities, such as rebates to customers for installation of energy-efficient appliances or reduced rates for nonpeak-load use of electricity, to encourage customers to reduce electricity consumption overall or at certain periods.


ECU

European currency unit

EFCC

Externally fired combined-cycle

EIA

Energy Information Administration

EMF

Electromagnetic fields

EPA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

EPACT

Energy Policy Act of 1992

EPRI

Electric Power Research Institute

ESP

Electrostatic precipitator

EU

European Union


FBC

Fluidized-bed combustion

FE

Fossil energy

FGD

Flue gas desulfurization

F-T

Fischer-Tropsch process; catalytic conversion of synthesis gas into a range of hydrocarbons.


GDP

Gross domestic product

Greenhouse gases

Gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, tropospheric ozone, nitrous oxide, and methane, that are transparent to solar radiation but opaque to long-wavelength radiation; their action is similar to that of glass in a greenhouse.

GRI

Gas Research Institute

GW

Gigawatt (109 Watts)

GWh

Gigawatt-hour


H2

Hydrogen

Hg

Mercury

HHV

Higher heating value

HIPPS

High-performance power system


IFC

Indirectly fired cycle

IGCC

Integrated gasification combined-cycle; IGCC power generation systems replace the traditional coal combustor with a gasifier and gas turbine.

IGFC

Integrated gasification fuel cell


KRW

Kellogg-Rust-Westinghouse

kW

Kilowatt

kWh

Kilowatt-hour


LEBS

Low-emission boiler system

Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×

LHV

Lower heating value

Life extension

Life extension is achieved by maintaining or improving the operating status of an electric power plant within acceptable levels of availability and efficiency, beyond the originally anticipated retirement date.

Lignite

Type of coal with a heating value of 4,000 to 8,300 Btu per pound, a carbon content of 25 to 35 percent, and moisture content up to 45 percent.

LNG

Liquefied natural gas


Mcf

Thousand cubic feet

MCFC

Molten carbonate fuel cell

METC

Morgantown Energy Technology Center

MHD

Magnetohydrodynamics

Mild gasification

See Pyrolysis

MMBtu

Million (106) Btu

MW

Megawatt (106 Watts)

Mwe

Megawatt electric

MWt

Megawatt thermal


NCA

National Coal Association

NCC

National Coal Council

NH3

Ammonia

NO2

Nitrogen dioxide

Nox

Oxides of nitrogen; a mix of nitrous oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

NSPS

New Source Performance Standards

NUG

Non-utility generator


03

Ozone

OECD

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OPEC

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries


PAFC

Phosphoric acid fuel cell

PC

Pulverized coal

Peak load Peak load (usually in reference to electrical load) is the maximum load during a specified period of time.

PETC

Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center

PFBC

Pressurized fluidized-bed combustion

Ppm

Parts per million

psi (or psig)

Pounds per square inch (psig indicates gauge pressure, that is, pressure above atmospheric pressure)

PURPA

Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act of 1979

Pyrolysis

Thermal decomposition of a chemical compound or mixture of chemical compounds.


Quad

Quadrillion (1015) Btu


Rank

Variety of coal; the higher the rank of coal, the greater its carbon content and heating value.

RD&D

Research, development and demonstration

Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×

RDD&C

Research, development, demonstration and commercialization

Repowering

Repowering is achieved by investments made in a plant to substantially increase its generating capability, to change generating fuels, or to install a more efficient generating technology at the plant site.

ROx

Particulate matter


Sasol

South African Coal, Oil, and Gas Corporation; coal conversion plant in operation at Sasolburg; coal is gasified by the Lurgi process and then converted to liquid hydrocarbons through the Fisher-Tropsch process.

SCCWS

Superclean cold water slurry

SCR

Selective catalytic reduction; postcombustion NOx control with the use of catalysts.

SNG

Synthetic natural gas

SNOx

Combined SO2 and NOx catalytic advanced flue gas cleanup

SOFC

Solid oxide fuel cell

SOx

Sulfur oxide

SO2

Sulfur dioxide

Synthesis gas

Mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen and other liquid and gaseous products

Subbituminous coal

Coal with a heating value of 8,300 to 11,500 Btu per pound, a carbon content of 35 to 45 percent, and a moisture content of 20 to 30 percent.

Synthetic Fuels Corporation

Organization established by the Energy Security Act of 1980 to facilitate the development of domestic nonconventional energy resources.


TBC

Thermal barrier coatings

Tcf

Trillion (1012) cubic feet


UF6

Uranium Hexafluoride

UNDEERC

University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center


VOC

Volatile organic compounds

Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×
Page 271
Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×
Page 272
Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×
Page 273
Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×
Page 274
Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×
Page 275
Suggested Citation:"GLOSSARY AND CONVENTIONS." National Research Council. 1995. Coal: Energy for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4918.
×
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was given a mandate in the 1992 Energy Policy Act (EPACT) to pursue strategies in coal technology that promote a more competitive economy, a cleaner environment, and increased energy security.

Coal evaluates DOE's performance and recommends priorities in updating its coal program and responding to EPACT.

This volume provides a picture of likely future coal use and associated technology requirements through the year 2040. Based on near-, mid-, and long-term scenarios, the committee presents a framework for DOE to use in identifying R&D strategies and in making detailed assessments of specific programs.

Coal offers an overview of coal-related programs and recent budget trends and explores principal issues in future U.S. and foreign coal use.

The volume evaluates DOE Fossil Energy R&D programs in such key areas as electric power generation and conversion of coal to clean fuels.

Coal will be important to energy policymakers, executives in the power industry and related trade associations, environmental organizations, and researchers.

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