Unified process assessment for resources use and waste emissions by coal-fired power generation

A unified process assessment is carried out to integrate various resources and emissions associated with the life cycle of typical coal-fired power generation systems, based on the thermodynamic concept of exergy as a common objective measure. For a comprehensive assessment of industrial production systems, three indicators termed as ecological efficiency, resources use efficiency and environmental emission intensity are devised to evaluate the overall efficacy. Concretely assessed in the present work are three typical modes of coal-fired power generation systems, i.e., the Average mode that represents the average emissions and efficiency of coal-fired power plants operating in the US in 1999, the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) mode that meets the New Source Performance Standards, and the low emission boiler system (LEBS) mode as a kind of highly advanced coal-fired power plant utilizing a low emission boiler, as benchmark cases in related NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) report.