Coal: the cleanest energy source there is?

[cplmac]

Researchers at Ohio State University claim to have developed a process to extract the energy from coal without burning it. They are chemically inducing the release of heat energy from the coal by using iron oxide pellets (Fe203 or rust as it's commonly known). This process does not burn the coal which uses the coal as fuel and releases CO2, instead it uses the iron oxide as an oxygen donor and releases only water and coal ash (also known as fly ash and used in concrete as a filler, I used to haul flyash from a Wisconsin coal power plant for a concrete company). This process purports to eliminate the emission of CO2 altogether which would prevent the release of approximately 2.3 billion metric tons of CO2 per year in America, or roughly 1/3 of our CO2 emmissions. If this tech is legit it is a major environmental breakthrough on a level we haven't seen before. They are doing their next test in a facility in Alabama ten times larger than the test facility they used in Ohio to prove the process. This is big big news for the coal industry and environmentalists if it plays out. Amazing that there might actually be a win win here.

Coal: the cleanest energy source there is? | Fox News

 

[w@flz]

Very cool, hope they can manage it as easy as burning it is..

 

[bracketslash]

Proud to be an Ohioan with several friends attending OSU.

 

[ErikStenger]

We have the smarts in Ohio.

 

[bracketslash]

We have the smarts in Ohio.

8 presidents, 25 astronauts, and OSU.