In his Lecture, Colin outlined the unique properties of coal, along with some of the emerging options for clean coal utilisation in the 21st Century and how long the world's coal resources might be expected to last. He described the three fundamental controls on coal properties, rank, type and grade, and briefly outlined how UNSW research has been contributing to our understanding and use of this unique geological material.

 

Colin then went on to describe the power supply situation in New South Wales, together with some of the options for clean coal technology in future power developments. These include oxy-fuel firing, fluidised-bed combustion and integrated gasification combined cycle systems, as well as ultra-clean coal, underground gasification, coal-seam methane, and the use of coal beds for CO2 sequestration.

 

There have been steady decreases in the amount of greenhouse gas released per unit of electric power produced from coal over the past 100 years as generating systems have become more efficient, and these are expected to continue with the new technologies under consideration. However, there is also need for a trade off in the efficiency of energy production if carbon dioxide is to be removed as part of the power generation process. The lecture further showed that world coal production has a finite life, and that, while we are still on the left hand side of the coal supply bell curve, world coal production can be expected to peak at some time before the end of the 21st Century.