IMP Seminars: Coal Combustion Pollutants: Research Driven by Increasingly More Stringent Chinese Environmental Regulations

China is currently facing an environmental crisis. Coal fired power generation is a major source of air pollution. New stringent environmental regulations for coal-fired power plants are entering into force. Accordingly, power plants are under increasing pressure to implement new and advanced pollutant control technologies to comply with the new regulations. These also highlight the challenges that must be well addressed by coal combustion scientists and technologists. In this presentation, a detailed scenario analysis of coal combustion generated pollutant emissions in China is firstly presented, followed by a comprehensive comparison of new Chinese environmental regulations with those of other jurisdictions to demonstrate the unique needs for innovative research in the field of coal combustion. Emphases are given to research activities that aim to improve the understanding of the formation mechanisms, emission and control of targeted pollutants including particulate matter, heavy metals and CO2 from coal combustion. The presentation concludes with a view to the prospects of the innovations in developing abatement technologies in the coal fired power generation sector in China.

Minghou Xu is a “Cheung Kong” Chair Professor of the Ministry of Education of China, and works at State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. He received his PhD, ME, and BE in Thermal Power Engineering in 1992, 1989 and 1986 respectively at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Prof. Xu worked as a visiting scientist from 1997 to 2000 at Instituto Superior Técnico in Technical University of Lisbon. He was also a visiting scholar from July 1999 to September 1999 at the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, the University of Sydney, Australia, and a visiting professor in August 2010 at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Australia. Prof Xu visited Curtin University from August to mid-September 2011 as an AusAID Australian Leadership Award Fellow and was also a visiting professor from August 2011 to August 2016 at Curtin University. Professor Xu is the Colloquium Co-Chair for Heterogeneous Combustion of the 34th and 35th International Symposium on Combustion. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Combustion Institute.

Prof. Xu's main research interests are efficient and clean coal combustion theory and technology, efficient biomass conversion and utilisation, solid waste utilisation. He has coordinated a broad range of projects related to energy and environment. The author of over 100 papers in international journals and conference proceedings, his research has led to the formation of fine particles, and the control of toxic metal emissions by sorbents.