A promising early-stage environmental company designed to clean up pollution caused by coal, The Coal Company of New York (Coalco New York) focuses a large portion of its business on clean coal technology. Although it is a common energy source, coal currently stands as one of the least environmentally friendly fuel sources. Among its effects, the burning of coal causes harmful emissions, which can lead to problems such as water and air pollution, acid rain, and global warming. To address the problem of “dirty” coal, Coalco New York and other clean coal companies set out to reduce adverse environmental impact by employing innovative technologies.
According to Coalco New York, one common approach to clean coal centers on the purification of coal before it even burns. Coal washing, a popular type of preparation, removes impurities from a sample by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing unwanted minerals to separate from the coal. But this is an imperfect method. While coal washing can indeed remove impurities, the solvents used to purify the coal are often environmentally hazardous on their own.
Another technique that clean coal technology companies such as Coalco New York employ is coal scrubbing, which controls the burn of the coal and minimizes harmful emissions. In particular, coal scrubbing involves the removal of compounds such as particulates, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. Coal-burning companies usually spray flue gas with a mixture of limestone and water, which reacts with any sulfur dioxide present in the gas to form synthetic gypsum.
