97/03583 Projects for introduction of coal-water fuel technique in Ukraine

Abstract

Dramatic reduction in oil and gas supplies to Ukraine and the lack of its own developed oil production industry considerably raise the significance of coal in the fuel and energy complex of the country. Higher consumption of coal and simultaneous deterioration of its quality, however, come into conflict with environmental regulations, which is most strongly pronounced in such industrial-developed, densely-populated areas as the Donbas. Combustion problems with gas and candle coals are associated with the combustion efficiency and ecology, whereas in the case of brown and lean coals as well as anthracites, a combustion technique is the primary concern, which accounts for quite a limited application of the above coals for power generation. The abundant resources of brown, lean and hard coals in Ukraine create favorable conditions for wide introduction of coal-water fuel (CWF) produced primarily from the above ranks into the national heat and power industry. On the other hand, these coals are the least investigated in terms of a CWF technique. Small studies have been undertaken, but larger studies on a pilot scale are, for the present, economically impossible given the current situation in the Ukraine coal industry.