Plasma or Retirement. Alternatives to the Coal-Fired Power Plants

In this paper, I present my vision of the current situation in power generation and suggest a description of the alternative solution for existing coal-fired power plants to increase their electrical efficiency and reduce pollution. This alternative is based on a known approach of coal gasification but differs by several important features, including the following: multistage and multimode operating muffles with new high-efficient plasma sources with a near unlimited lifetime; variable oxidants from air to oxygen, steam, CO₂, and different blends; no need for any supplemental fuel; possible combination with waste gasification plants; flexible feedstock; variable by-product composition from a low-Btu synthesis gas to a high hydrogen-yield blend with up to 97% hydrogen by volume; and others.