How does a coal power plant make electricity?
Coal power plants burn coal or its byproducts to produce electricity. In pulverized coal plants, coal is ground up, blown into a furnace and then burned to produce steam, which turns a steam turbine coupled with an electric generator, which produces electricity. Nearly all coal plants operating and being built today are pulverized coal power plants. In a pulverized coal plant with CO2 capture, carbon would be chemically separated and captured from the exhaust (flue) gas created by burning the coal.5 In integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants, the coal is ground up and fed into a gasifier that converts it into a syngas. This coal–based gas is burned to produce very hot gases and steam that turn turbines coupled with electric generators, which produce electricity. IGCC is a relatively new technology and there are just a few plants operating in the US.
