%0 Journal Article
%T Increasing National Energy Mix through Carbon Sequestration of Coal for Improved Power Generation
%A H. U. Ugwu
%A E. A. Ogbonnaya
%A C. I. Ezekwe
%A O.C. Iloeje
%J International Journal of Engineering and Technology
%D 2012
%I IJET Publications
%X In this paper, a novel technology of increasing national energy mix through carbon sequestration of coal has been advocated as a panacea for improving the nation¡¯s power generation for electricity utilization and consumption. Consequently, electricity and petroleum products which have become the energy forms relied upon in most economic sectors of the world significantly exist with some changes in time vis-¨¤-vis the energy consumption due to changes in the structure of the economy, energy prices, level of production of goods and services, technology and population, etc. Also, the exclusive dependence on income from oil for infrastructural development thus became the order of the day. These, are considered unsustainable especially with the total neglect of the agrarian nature of the country and the unproductive capabilities of other goods and services derivable from electricity generated. Hence, these seriously portend that urgent and drastic engineering strategies must be introduced in the energy sector to revamp the dwindling power generation. Thus, carbon sequestration of coal is the suggested option as a clean coal energy technology for power plant optimization. In this study, some air-dried Nigerian coals collected from different coal deposits across the country were utilized for the analyses to investigate their characteristics and rheology. The result obtained shows that chemically re-characterized Enugu sub-bituminous air dried coal has the highest carbon content ranging from 3.8% to 46.27% while its calorific value was found to be also high among others at the range of 22.3 to 28.4MJ/Kg, respectively. The result also shows that increase in carbon contents for all the coal samples resulted to increase in calorific value which would reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere if released by the burning of these fossil fuels. The technology of a good sequestered carbon if adopted will help in revamping the dwindling energy sector. It will also reduce over-dependence on oil especially the petroleum products and make room for an optimal energy mix for effective diversification of the sector. This would thus increase the efficiency of power plants for improved optimization of coal for energy production and management.
%K Energy mix
%K Carbon sequestration of coal
%K Improved power generation
%K Effective diversification of the energy sector
%K Greenhouse gases.
%U http://www.iet-journals.org/archive/2012/dec_vol_2_no_12/255867135777311.pdf