"Scrubbing" brown coal in the Czech Republic

"Coal is the energy source of the future," claims NTH scientist Erling Østerbø. He is involved in a pilot project to clean up brown coal in the Czech Republic.

What is known as the gravimelt coal process is been widely discussed in the Norwegian media because the small Steinkjer consulting company SELFINT won the European licence rights to the process. The American company TRW has developed a process for "scrubbing" or cleaning coal before it is burnt. In the district of Most in the Czech Republic a pilot plant for scrubbing brown coal is under construction. It will be ready for use in 1998 and will tell us whether it is practical, and not least economic, to build such a coal "refinery." The gravimelt coal process has already been successfully demonstrated at a pilot plant in the USA that uses hard coal from Pittsburgh.

Østerbø is involved in the project as a technical consultant. A number of his students have worked on the project, both in the Czech Republic and at NTH.

If it turns out to be possible to scrub brown coal and thus make old power stations "clean," the process will be of enormous importance. Scrubbing a ton of coal will probably cost NOK 400 - 500.

However, Østerbø points out that all prognoses suggest that coal will be the world's dominant source of energy when oil and gas have been used up. Global coal reserves are currently sufficient for 300 - 400 years at current rates of consumption.