The Continued Prevalance of Black Lung Disease Among Coal Miners: A Preventable Tragedy and Yet Another Reason to Move Away from Coal

The Continued Prevalence of Black Lung Disease Among Coal Miners: A Preventable Tragedy and Yet Another Reason to Move Away from Coal

A graphic on the Mine Safety and Health Administration website notes that since 1968 there have been 76,000 deaths from Black Lung disease at cost of $45 billion in Federal compensation. Black lung includes a series of maladies caused by long term chronic exposure to coal dust and silica dust, which scars lung tissue. This black particulate matter can coat the lungs causing difficulty in breathing and eventually death. The deadliest form or advanced phase of black lung is a malady called progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) or complicated black lung. The National Institute Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH) announced in February that there have been 416 confirmed cases of PMF in central Appalachia from 2013 to 2017. Since that study 154 new cases have been confirmed. That is a huge uptick and it shows that the disease is not slowing down as it was thought to be in the 1990’s. Out of 50,000 coal miners still working, 1%, or 1 out of 100 (of that total as some of those w/PMF may no longer be working) have the worst form of black lung and presumably many more have lesser versions heading toward PMF. That is concerning. Perhaps most concerning is that 5% of all veteran miners and 10% of those with more than 25 years of mining experience in central Appalachia have PMF which is the highest level ever recorded. More than 20% of miners in Appalachia have been diagnosed with some form of the disease. That is rather astounding.

The new data of rising PMF black lung cases suggests two things to some health researchers: 1) it would be considered a serious health crisis if it occurred in other industries, and 2) the new data show that dust control regulation and/or enforcement and/or fines have been inadequate.

The Coal Mine Dust Rule was first put in effect in 2014. The Mine, Safety, and Health Administration (MSHA), a branch of the U.S. Dept. of Labor, explains this ‘respirable dust rule.’ First implemented in August 2014, it required an initial year of continuous dust sampling in mines and certification every three years of samplers. This showed that compliance with the planned reductions was achievable. Phase III went into in August 2016 and requires lower limits for coal mine dust in the mines and at air intakes. The limit for dust in the mines dropped from 2mg/cubic meter to 1.5 mg/cubic meter. The initial proposal was to drop it to 1 mg/cubic meter as recommended by NIOSH. Negotiations over 3-1/2 years with coal producers and politicians led to the compromise. This was the first time there was any implementation of a regulation against coal dust for 45 years. The previous law in 1969 made eliminating black lung a national goal. The rate of contracting the disease did drop in subsequent years as better mining ventilation systems became standard, water-spraying dust control was widely implemented, and monitoring was required. The level of black lung was cut by nearly 60% from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. That was a clear regulatory success in terms of health outcomes. Then the level flattened and has been back on the rise in recent years. In studies, a rise was first noted in 2007, a general rise was noted in 2012 and a bigger rise in 2016.  

The MSHA calls the respiratory dust rule “a historic step forward in the effort to end black lung disease.” NIOSH researchers stated that “Enhancement and diligent enforcement of the 2014 standards remains critical for reversing these trends” The mining industry strongly opposed the rule with the National Mining Association and coal producer Murray Energy filing lawsuits. Murray Energy claimed that MSHA “clearly seeks to destroy the coal industry and the thousands of jobs that it provides.” However, the Trump MSHA with former coal executive David Zatezalo now in charge, seeks to ‘reform’ the rule, first gathering their own data in support of their presumed idea of reducing required sampling frequency and “accommodating less costly methods.” He insists they do not seek to roll back the rule, only to tweak it, although it has been labeled by MSHA as a ‘deregulatory’ action which has raised eyebrows. In April Trump’s MSHA submitted the draft request for information about the rule titled “Regulatory Reform of Existing Standards and Regulations: Retrospective Study of Respirable Coal Mine Dust Rule”

In 1998 there was an expose’ by a Louisville newspaper that found extensive cheating on mine dust samples by coal producers in Kentucky. A few years ago there was a case of admission of guilt in cheating on water samples taken for coal companies in West Virginia. These and other cases show that there is a need for regulatory enforcement. The same paper reported in 2007 on the initial resurgence of black lung. More recently, there have been several indictments for people from a few mines in Western Kentucky where some whistleblower miners told of routine manipulation of dust samples at the threat of harassment and/or job loss. This was at two Armstrong Coal mines between 2014 and 2017, Armstrong Coal has since gone bankrupt. Those charged include a section foreman, a safety director, and a superintendent. Armstrong Coal is named as an "unindicted co-conspirator." One might speculate that there was some 'pushback' against the new federal rule at least at those mines. Of course, when one company or group in a company conspire to avoid implementing compliance to a regulation and get caught then it makes all those who do comply look bad as well in a sense. In the case of the very well known dangers of black lung the cheating seems particularly devious. The Ohio Valley Resource article referenced below is a good summary of the case.

Other expose’s have shown doctors retained by coal companies had sought to limit black lung benefits to miners and even now there are severe limits in choosing doctors in Kentucky. The requirement is for the disease to be diagnosed only by a small group of certified pulminologists, lung specialists, rather than radiologists. Radiologists day they are perfectly qualified to diagnose the malady. This means that it could take over a year for people to even be seen by the lung specialists. Since early detection is key to mitigating the effects of black lung, this is a delay that certainly could negatively affect health outcomes.

All the data suggest that black lung can be significantly reduced – simply by adequate regulation, enforcement, and corporate accountability through fines and inspections. Regardless of the economics of coal producers, at 76,000 dead, over 10,000 ill, and $45 billion and counting  - this is a no-brainer. 

Update: Dec. 19, 2018: According to a news segment by NPR yesterday which will be seen in a Frontline/NPR TV special next month, there is some additional very interesting info. In recent years as coal seams are mined out there has been more cutting through non-coal rock, rock containing high amounts of silica dust. Silica dust is strongly suspected of being much more damaging to lungs than just coal dust. The Obama-era regs sought to address silica dust by addressing overall dust rates, which would be an improvement but not a drastic one for overall exposure to black-lung causing dust. The miners interviewed noted that this “cutting rock,” also known as “slope mining” has definitely increased and so too has the silica dust to which they were exposed. Trump’s new MSHA chief has publicly acknowledged that silica dust is suspected to be the culprit in increased black lung but also has privately said in contradiction that the link is not yet proven. The silica dust is regulated by other regulatory agencies, particularly OSHA. Other industries regulate silica dust via OSHA but the mines have kept the MSHA regs. A big factor that may miss the increased exposure is that sampling rates are probably inadequate. Even though mines now use third parties to do the sampling the rates of sampling are likely inadequate. The miners that operate the mining machines cutting rock also say that the dust is so heavy that it clogs up dust masks making it hard to breath and some mines don’t even require dust masks. Mine vents may be seen by the mine operators to be enough to mitigate the problem, but this is fairly obviously not the case. This latest increase in black lung and PMF likely due mainly to silica dust has been accurately described as a regulatory failure. Basically, with the increase in slope mining and the subsequent production of silica dust, “putting miners back to work” basically means hastening their suffering and death.

References:

Trump Wants to Weaken Coal Miner Protections as Black Lung Makes a Comeback – by Mark Hand in ThinkProgress, July 20, 2018

Black Lung Rate Hits 25-Year High In Appalachian Coal Mining States – by Howard Berkes, in NPR.org, July 19, 2018

Respirable Dust Rule: A Historic Step Forward in the Effort to End Black Lung Disease – by U.S. Dept. of Labor – Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) (website) – 2014-2017

Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever of Fatal Coal Miners' Disease – by Howard Berkes & Adelina Lancianese, in NPR (All Things Considered) – Feb. 6. 2018

A Scourge for Coal Miners Stages a Brutal Comeback – by Ken Ward Jr. – in Yale Environment
 360, Nov. 11, 2014.

Federal Prosecutor Charges Coal Company with Faking Dust Samples Amid Black Lung Surge - by Jeff Young and Becca Schimmel, in Ohio Valley Resource, July 11, 2018

NET Power, Supercritical CO2 Technology, and the Development of the First Allam Cycle Natural GAs Power Plants: Featuring Carbon Capture, No Pollution, and Comparable Efficiencies to Existing Combined-Cycle Gas Plants

NET Power, Supercritical CO2 Technology, and the Development of the First Allam Cycle Natural Gas Power Plants: Featuring Carbon, No Pollution, and Comparable Efficiencies and Costs to Existing Combined -Cycle Gas Plants

Durham, North Carolina company NET Power announced a few weeks ago that they fired up their new $140 million 50MW test plant in LaPorte, Texas that runs on natural gas and captures the CO2 at no additional cost to other modern gas plants when done at scale. This is a big deal, possibly a very big deal. It is good for natural gas. It is good for decarbonization. It is good for pollution abatement. It is good for electricity consumers. It is good for people who live nearby who otherwise might be close to a major pollution source. This is likely to be a major victory for carbon capture technology. The main limiting factor to scaling this technology is the need for sequestration and/or to sell the by-products – mainly CO2, nitrogen, and argon. Oil companies purchase CO2 for CO2 flooding to recover oil and related plastics companies use it in making ethylene. Another advantage of these types of plants is that they have a smaller physical footprint than current natural gas combined cycle plants. NET Power’s parent company 8 Rivers Capitol is funding ongoing tech development, Exelon Generation is operating the plant, and Toshiba is working on turbine development. The plants also use far less water for cooling and could even be air cooled if necessary. They think that they will surpass the economics of a conventional modern combined cycle gas plant when they scale up, with the 30^th plant (presumably 300MW).

Supercritical CO2

The key to the plant’s function is supercritical CO2, which is CO2 that is heated to a certain temperature (31.1 deg C – a hot day in Phoenix) and pressurized to 7.39 megapascals. This makes the CO2 expand like a gas but flow like a liquid. Liquids can be pumped. The CO2 is compressed, pumped, and guided to spin a turbine. It is compressed to the needed pressure then pumped since pumping requires far less energy than compression. That is one key to its lower costs. It is the pressurized supercritical CO2 (SCO2) itself that runs the turbine.

Oxyfuel Combustion

Like combined-cycle gas plants the exhaust from combusting the gas in near-pure oxygen runs a turbine (here by heating CO2 to run the turbine), but instead of the second cycle being still-hot exhaust heating steam to run a second turbine the second cycle uses the waste heat to reheat the next batch of CO2 so that the heat is basically recycled. The plant also relies on oxyfuel combustion, or oxy-firing. This involves burning in pure oxygen. It was tried in the past in coal projects with limited results but works better in natural gas combustion, presumably due to less impurities in gas relative to coal. Using it for coal also requires a desulfurization system and generates waste in the form of sulfur and heavy metals. Oxyfuel combustion has been in common use for some time in other industries such as aluminum, steel, and glass. Nitrogen, which makes up over 70% of air, is removed. Another problem with coal is the ash it generates which gets sticky and is hard to handle. It is oxyfuel combustion that causes the waste stream from the combustion to be basically pure CO2, with magnitudes less impurities than a traditional combustion system. This makes carbon capture vastly easier and cheaper.

The Allam Cycle

UK engineer Rodney Allam is credited with the invention of the Allam Cycle. Allam has defined it as “a high-pressure, highly recuperative, oxyfuel, supercritical CO2 cycle.” The combustible mix by mass is 94% CO2, 4.75% oxygen, and 1.25% natural gas. The pressurized CO2 runs the fluid turbine (different from a steam turbine). Apparently, much of the CO2 can be reused (thus the term “highly recuperative”), some water is condensed out, and some 90+% pure CO2 (considered a pipeline-quality CO2 product) is ready for utilization or sequestration. It is unclear just how much CO2 is used up in the process and how much is produced as a by-product that must be utilized and/or sequestered. Allam notes that the process is not “parasitic, “or added on, as are all other conventional carbon capture technologies. He describes it this way in the 2013 Modern Power Systems article referenced below:

“NET Power turns the CO2 problem into the solution by exploiting the special thermodynamic properties of carbon dioxide as a working fluid. This avoids the energy losses that steam-based cycles encounter as a result of heat loss inherent in the unavoidable vaporization and condensation of water. In the process, NET Power generates - at no additional cost - a high-pressure, high-quality CO2 byproduct that is ready for pipeline removal.”

The process is termed “highly recuperative for a number of reasons: 1) much of the CO2 is recycled, 2) waste-heat from the air compressors of the cryogenic air separation plant associated with the oxy-combustion system (oxy-combustion is normally much more parasitic) is recycled to reheat the recycled CO2 – thus the heat-exchange process is highly efficient , 3) the energy savings from running compression to running pumps as the CO2 gets into a supercritical state, and 4) the CO2 is removed from the recycle flow at high purity and at pressures which can flow in a CO2 pipeline – it is both pipeline quality and pipeline ready.

Of course, the projects will be initially confined to places where the extra CO2 can be used which requires both a market for the CO2 and some CO2 pipeline infrastructure. Thus, it is likely to be confined to projects near major secondary oil recovery operations. He also notes that Toshiba is well-positioned to build the turbines required as they have the expertise in high pressure turbines, materials, and manufacture. The NET Power cycle systems are cheaper due to smaller footprint (in part due to higher pressures) and the lack of a need for smokestacks and emissions control systems. This saved cost is partially offset by NET Power’s requirements for a cryogenic air separation unit and a heat exchanger block.

Allam also mentions the NET Power cycle as a ‘platform’ that can be used for other processes such as a coal plant, LNG regasification facilities where it could increase efficiencies, hybrid concentrated solar-natural gas plants where it could increase efficiencies, by superheating steam at greater efficiencies than current in steam cycle turbines, and direct link-up to secondary recovery of oil where associated gas could be the combustible source. He also notes that the NET Power cycle can be utilized for coal just as readily and this could be useful for countries reliant on coal like India and China, although it is unclear what they could do with the excess CO2. 

Marketing CO2 and Other Gases

Finding a market for the captured CO2, nitrogen, argon, and a few other gases is a current focus. Power plants near oil fields could provide CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. The pure CO2 could even be used as a source to make gasoline or ethanol as analyses show these new processes to be economically viable at scale, especially CO2-to-ethanol. Of course, the extra CO2 could also be sequestered which would render the projects less economic and perhaps uneconomic. Perhaps they could even send some to Europe who has a current shortage of food-grade CO2 for things like carbonated beverages – although it is a temporary shortage due to plant maintenance! I wonder if CO2 in whatever state could also be utilized for energy storage – of the compressed air type. Indications are that the CO2-to-ethanol chemical reaction has very low energy input requirements and could very well be developed for energy storage, especially of intermittent renewables in times of overgeneration. Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) has been at an economic standstill for some time since critics have argued that renewables, especially wind, are cheaper to deploy without CCUS than fitting fossil fuel plants with CCUS. The Vox article explores the problem of what to do with the CO2 and who pays for its sequestration. If the plant pays then the economics go way down. If the public pays then it becomes a fossil fuel subsidy. Of course, if there is a taker or buyer then the economics stay the same or get better.

The Current State of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration (CCUS)

According to the article referenced below about the new clean energy incentives bill signed by Trump:

“Currently, there are 17 large-scale carbon capture plants in the world, sequestering 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in total—about 0.1% of total global emissions.”

That is a dismally small amount and critics probably correctly point out that CCUS seems unlikely to make a major impact on carbon emissions, especially in the near-term, as the costs have been consistently too high. The International Energy Agency suggests that by 2050 the global need for CCUS will be for 6 billion metric tons to be diverted from the atmosphere – or about 15% of emissions. This will be unlikely to happen without efficiency, cost, and technological improvements.  

Public perception of CCUS has waned over the years as the technology has stagnated. With wind and solar an added advantage is companies and residents that want zero or low emissions technologies. It is unclear if and probably unlikely that low-emitting tech that still uses fossil fuels will be as warmly welcomed and pursued in things like power purchase agreements. Thus, I doubt companies like Google, Amazon, or Facebook, would embrace the tech over wind and solar for their data centers, for example.

US DOE Energy Research Contributes to Technology Solutions

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is involved with several research projects utilizing supercritical CO2 as well as turbine development, carbon capture, and sequestration. They are involved with R&D in several SCO2 cycles and turbomachinery in their Advanced Turbines Program. Their current projects include working with what’s called the Brayton Cycle which is a closed-loop system that is also non-condensing. The Alam Cycle involves condensing out water but could run without doing so at additional loss of efficiency – so added cost. The Brayton Cycle and other SCO2 cycles may work better with oxy-combusted coal. A 10MW natural gas test plant of the Brayton Cycle will open in Texas in 2019. Other SCO2 projects include ‘indirect firing’ which utilizes turbine waste heat to heat SCO2 in a conventional Combined Cycle Gas Plant steam cycle for a 2-4% increase in efficiency for little cost. Other projects involve converting waste heat from turbines and/or engines to heat SCO2 for a 20% increase in efficiency at a small scale. In the Netherlands Statoil, Mitsubishi, and other companies are working on a combined cycle gas plant that burns 30% hydrogen for a 10% reduction in emissions, although that project does not use SCO2 or oxyfuel combustion. Sequestration and utilization of CO2 also require transportation to point of use or sequestration, either via truck or pipeline so that is another area of expense and research. Obviously, being close to area of utilization and/or sequestration is an economic advantage.

There are also other incentives including a recently passed federal law that gives tax credits of $50 per metric ton of CO2 buried or $30 per metric ton of CO2 captured and used for oil production. These are the 45Q tax credits and plants beginning construction before 2024 are eligible and credits can be taken for 12 years.

References:

That Natural Gas Power Plant with No Carbon Emissions or Air Pollution? It Works: The Carbon-Capture Game is About to Change – by David Roberts, in Vox, June 1, 2018

This Natural Gas Plant Could Be A Big Breakthrough – by Nathanael Johnson, in Grist, May 31, 2018

NET Power Achieves Major Milestone for Carbon Capture with Demonstration Plant First Fire – Cision PR Newswire, May 30, 2018

This Power Plant Runs on CO2:  Carbon Capture Costs Nothing in NET Power’s New Plant, Which Uses Supercritical Carbon Dioxide to Drive a Turbine – by David Wagman, in IEEE Spectrum, May 30, 2018

Winner: Restoring Coal’s Sheen: Swedish Energy Company Takes a Novel Approach to Carbon Capture – by William Sweet, in IEEE Spectrum, Jan. 1, 2008

Supercritical CO2 Turbomachinery: Technology Development for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SCO2) Based Power Cycles – by National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) – website

NET Power’s CO2 Cycle: The Breakthrough that CCS Needs – by Rodney Allam, in Modern Power Systems (modernpowersystems.com), July 2013

Trump signed a landmark bill that could create the next big technologies to fight climate change – by Akshat Rathi, in Quartz (qtz.com), Feb 9, 2018