The Life Cycle Assessment Of Coal-fired Power Generation

The energy of coal and electricity promote the rapid growth of global economy, and also brings the global energy shortage and environmental pollution. The whole process of extraction to power generation of coal not only creates great resource consumption, but also brings serious environmental pollutions, such as air pollution, water pollution, waste pollution, etc,. For achieving the sustainable development of economy and society, it is necessary to analyze the environmental impacts and related costs caused by coal-fired power generation, then take effective measures against the environmental impact factors produced in the whole process of the coal-fired power generation, and finally mitigate the environmental impacts.Life Cycle Assessment is regarded as the most effective tool of environmental management. It seeks the opportunities of mitigating the environmental impacts through evaluating them comprehensively and scientifically from cradle to grave. The LCA of coal-fired power generation is to introduce the idea and method of LCA into the field of coal-fired power generation, and analyze the environmental and related economical impacts, then advance some corresponding strategies, and finally promote the sustainable development of coal-fired power generation.Based on the theories on environmental management, LCA, and environmental cost, this thesis establishes the LCA framework of coal-fired power generation. In the framework, it firstly defines the goal and scope of coal-fired power generation in the framework, considering the definition of the study boundary, time and space scope, functional unit, data quality, and basic assumption, etc. Then it constructs the life cycle inventory with settlings the information of inputs and outputs of the environmental impact factors in every stage of coal-fired power generation. Basing on the above research, it carries out life cycle impact assessment, for not only calculating the potential values of environmental impacts, but evaluating the resource consumption cost and external environmental cost. Finally, it makes the interpretation.For proving the feasibility of the framework, the thesis employs the XD mine-HH power plant as a case study. Combined with the real situation of the coal-fired power generation of the plant, its life cycle is divided into three stages:coal mining of XD mine, coal transportation, and coal-fired power generation of HH power plant. Meanwhile, the environmental impacts are composed of resource consumption, global warming, photochemical ozone synthesis, acidification, health hazard, soot and dust, eutrophication, and solid waste. Basing on the LCA framework of coal-fired power generation, the thesis comprehensively analyzes the coal-fired power generation of XD mine-HH power plant, and then advances some measures for mitigating resource consumption and environmental pollution. Finally, taking the measures of reducing the soot and dust for example, it analyzes the predicted condition, and concludes the obvious improvement effects.There two potential innovations in the thesis. First, it analyses the environmental impacts caused by the whole life cycle of the coal-fired power generation comprehensively and systematically. Second, basing on the traditional LCA method and environmental cost theory, it establishes the LCA framework of coal-fired power generation, and analysis both the environmental impacts and the economical cost.