Development of a CO2 emission factor in Korea from sub-bituminous coal by the classification method

Abstract

While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change classifies coal as anthracite, bituminous coal, and sub-bituminous coal, Korea only distinguishes coal as anthracite and bituminous coal while sub-bituminous coal is considered bituminous coal. As a result, Korea conducted research in the CO2 emission factors of anthracite and bituminous coal, but largely ignored sub-bituminous coal. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to develop the CO2 emission factor of sub-bituminous coal by classifying sub-bituminous coal from resources of bituminous coal activities collected in Korea between 2007 and 2011. The 2007–2011 average carbon content of sub-bituminous coal was analyzed to be 69.63 ± 3.11 %, the average hydrogen content 4.97 ± 0.37 %, the inherent moisture 12.60 ± 4.33 %, the total moisture 21.91 ± 5.45 %, and the dry-based gross calorific value was analyzed to be 5,914 ± 391 kcal/kg; using these analyzed values, the as-received net calorific value was found to be 20.75 ± 7.59 TJ/Gg and the CO2 emission factor was found to be 96,241 ± 4,064 kg/TJ. In addition, the 62.7 million ton amount for the 2009 greenhouse gas emission from sub-bituminous coal as estimated with the analyzed value of this study is an amount that is equivalent to 11.1 % of the 2009 total greenhouse gas emission amount of 564.7 million tons, and this amount is larger than the 9.3 % for the industrial processes sector, 3.3 % for the agricultural sector and 2.5 % for the waste sector. Therefore, it is important to reflect the realities of Korea when estimating the greenhouse gas emission from such sub-bituminous coals.