3 ms·
For this you would need to store the CO2. For each ton of coal burned you generate about 3 tons of CO2. At atmospheric pressure thats 1500 cubic meters. A small
by Gravityloss 9y ago
For this you would need to store the CO2. For each ton of coal burned you generate about 3 tons of CO2. At atmospheric pressure thats 1500 cubic meters.
A small 200 MW power plant could burn 80 tonnes per hour. Thats 120 000 cubic meters. That is a building 12 m high and 100 m square.
I guess everything is possible given the right subsidies...
- ajnin 9y agoYou wouldn't store the CO2 gaseous at atmospheric pressure, you'd use the energy to compress it, presumably liquefying it. Liquid CO2 has a density of around 1100kg/m3, according to a quick Google search, so your example power plant would need only about 200m^3 to store the CO2 produced in one hour, or a cube of about 6m wide. Or 120m wide per year. Still seems like a lot, and I don't know how much energy is needed to compress and cool all that CO2 but it's dubious the surplus renewable energy would suffice to compress all the CO2 produced by fossile-burning power plants.
- Gravityloss 9y agoThat indeed seems like a better idea.