*** 9760012 Lyon This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to demonstrate the chemistry for a new, more efficient, and cleaner method of coal combustion. The use of coal to generate electrical power involves severe pollution problems. These problems include the emission of S02 and NOx, which cause both a local air pollution and the national problem of acid rain, the emission of mercury, furans, dioxanes and submicron particles containing toxic heavy metals, and the emission of massive quantities of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas chiefly responsible for global warming. A new method of coal combustion is proposed which avoids all these problems and improves the efficiency of producing electricity from coal. As the hardware necessary to implement this new combustion concept has already been developed for other uses, the key uncertainties relate to the chemistry. The research program aims to demonstrate this chemistry. The new combustion technology-if successful-could be used in a major share of U.S. and foreign generating capacity. ***
