ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT FUEL TYPES FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

The Government of the Russian Federation pays great attention to the development of the country’s Arctic territories. Among the priority projects are the development of rare earths, crude oil, natural gas and coal production, as well as diamonds and gold. A significant part of the projects is related to the development of the Arctic territories of the Far East: the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Chukotka Autonomous Region.
The development of natural resources of the Arctic zone of the Russian eastern regions will require intensification of the production and social infrastructure, primarily the energy sector. As a rule, the deposits of the eastern Arctic are located in the zone of local energy supply and seasonal transport accessibility. In this regard, the development of rational energy supply schemes in each case will be required. When choosing the energy supply option, environmental assessments are important, reflecting regional territory characteristics, the volume of emissions/discharges and the amount of waste resulting from the production of electric or thermal energy.
At the initial stage of environmental studies, it is proposed to estimate the amount of atmospheric emissions generated when using different fuels for various energy sources: thermal power plants, low-power boiler-houses, diesel power plants. Currently, the following types of fuel are used in the Arctic territories of the Far East: coal from the Beringovsky, Zyryansky, Anadyrsky, Dzhebariki-Khaisky deposits, crude oil, natural gas and diesel fuel. Additionally options for switching autonomous power plants to burning gas and crude oil are considered. The calculated values are given in kg per tonne of equivalent fuel burned in boiler-houses and power plants.
The analysis of the results shows that when coal is burned, environmental indicators are 10–20 times higher than those for liquid and gaseous fuels.
Among the coals used in the territory of the eastern Arctic sector, from the ecological point of view, Zyryansky coal is the worst, due to a relatively high ash content of the fuel.
It should be noted that during the burning of the Anadyrsky brown coal in boiler-houses (ceteris paribus) the smallest amount of pollutants is formed. However, when burning the coal at large thermal power plants, the emission is comparable to emissions when using the Zyryansky coal due to the combustion conditions of this coal, characterized by lower losses of mechanical under-burning for brown coal, and in boiler-houses — due to a smaller number of particles in fly ash.
Thus, an environmental assessment shows that the least harmful to the environment is the burning of natural gas and liquid fuels. Among coals, the most environmentally friendly is Dzhebariki-Khaisky coal. Reducing the amount of emissions from diesel electric plants (DEP) can be achieved by using a gas-diesel or gas-piston process. When switching stand-alone (local) power plants from diesel fuel to crude oil, the amount of air emissions increases by 1.2—1.3 times. While switching to gas-diesel or gas-piston power plants, the emission of some pollutants can be reduced by 15—20 times.

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