Analysis and discussion on formation and control of primary particulate matter generated from coal-fired power plants

Particulate matter (PM) has been becoming the principal urban pollutant in many major cities in China, and even all over the world. It is reported that the coal combustion process is one of the main sources of PM in the atmosphere. Therefore, an investigation of formation and emission of fine primary PM in coal combustion was conducted. First, the sources and classification of coal-fired primary PM were discussed; then their formation pathways during the coal combustion process were analyzed in detail. Accordingly, the emission control methods for fine particles generated from coal-fired power plants were put forward, and were classified as precombustion control, in-combustion control, and postcombustion control. Precombustion control refers to the processes for improving the coal quality before combustion, such as coal type selection and coal preparation. In-combustion control means to take measures for adjusting the combustion conditions and injection of additives during the combustion process to abate the formation of PM. Postcombustion control is the way that the fine PM are aggregated into larger ones by some agglomeration approaches and subsequently are removed by dust removal devices, or some high-performance modifications of conventional particle emission control devices (PECDs) can be taken for capturing fine particles. Finally, some general management suggestions are given for reducing fine PM emission in coal-fired power plants. Implications: The analysis and discussions of coal properties and its combustion process are critical to recognizing the formation and emission of the fine primary PM in combustion. The measures of precombustion, in-combustion, and postcombustion control based on the analysis and discussions are favorable for abating the PM emission. Practically, some measures of implementation do need the support of national policies, even needing to sacrifice economy to gain environmental profit, but this is the very time to execute these, and high-performances PECDs, especially novel devices, should be used for removing fine PM in flue gas.