Hey there dirty dozens, Jules here for Dnews!

嘿，骯髒的人，朱爾斯在這裡的Dnews！

At the second presidential debate, Donald Trump brought up clean coal.

在第二次總統辯論中，唐納德-特朗普提出了清潔煤。

Now, we saw some tweets from you guys wondering what clean coal actually is!

現在，我們看到了你們的一些微博，想知道清潔煤到底是什麼!

But before we can explain clean coal, you kind of have to understand why we use coal

但在我們解釋清潔煤之前，你得先了解我們為什麼要用煤。

in the first place.

首先是。

Coal is incredibly important.

煤炭是非常重要的。

It's cheap -- one of the cheapest sources of energy available.

它的便宜--最便宜的能源之一。

It is amazingly efficient for making electricity, and it's one of the most abundant energy

它的發電效率驚人，是最豐富的能源之一。

sources in the world, even more so than oil.

世界上的資源，甚至比石油還多。

But it has one huge drawback.

但它有一個巨大的缺點。

It is so dirty that people regularly die from its pollution.

它是如此骯髒，以至於經常有人死於它的汙染。

When coal is burned it releases chemicals like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, a little

煤燃燒時，會釋放出二氧化硫、氮氧化物等化學物質，還有少許的二氧化碳。

mercury, and carbon dioxide, not to mention a bunch of various particulates.

汞，和二氧化碳，更不用說一堆各種微粒了。

These leak into the air and water and result in smog, soot, acid rain, global warming,

這些洩漏到空氣和水中，導致煙霧、煙塵、酸雨、全球變暖。

and toxic air emissions.

和有毒氣體排放。

Those can cause asthma, lung cancer, various heart diseases, and other health problems.

這些會引起哮喘、肺癌、各種心臟病等健康問題。

Not good.

不太好

So, in an effort to placate people worried about dying just to get a little electricity,

所以，為了安撫擔心死亡的人們，只為得到一點電。

the coal industry heavily invested in clean coal.

煤炭行業大力投資清潔煤。

But Clean Coal is still coal.

但潔淨煤還是煤。

It's not a different kind of coal.

這不是一種不同的煤。

It's just handled differently in the process of turning it into energy.

只是在將其轉化為能量的過程中，處理方式不同。

The term Clean Coal is actually shorthand for Clean Coal technologies, which are designed

潔淨煤一詞實際上是潔淨煤技術的簡稱，其目的在於

to lessen the number of pollutants released in the production of energy.

以減少能源生產中汙染物的排放數量；

One such method is called carbon capture and storage, which is exactly what it sounds like.

其中一種方法叫做碳捕獲和儲存，聽起來就是這樣。

Carbon dioxide is separated from the air before it leaves a power plant or other production

二氧化碳在離開發電廠或其他生產部門之前就從空氣中分離出來。

plant using a process called “absorption” or carbon scrubbing.

工廠使用一種稱為 "吸收 "或碳洗滌的過程。

This is where chemicals called amines are used to bind to the carbon dioxide and pull

在這裡，被稱為胺的化學物質被用來與二氧化碳結合，並拉動。

it out of the air.

它從空氣中。

This gas is then piped underground, or “sequestered” so that it can't leak into the atmosphere.

然後，這些氣體被輸送到地下，或者說被 "封存 "起來，這樣就不會洩漏到大氣中。

It can even be used to help depleted oil fields coax their last bits of oil to the surface.

它甚至可以用來幫助枯竭的油田將最後一點石油哄騙到地面。

We have a whole video about CO2 scrubbing if you want to know more.

如果你想了解更多，我們有一整個關於二氧化碳洗滌的視頻。

Another popular method to end the infamous acid rain scares of the 70s and 80s was to

另一種流行的方法是結束70年代和80年代臭名昭著的酸雨恐慌。

wash all the sulfur out of coal before it made its way into a plant.

在進入工廠之前，將煤中的硫磺洗掉。

And when I say wash, I mean literally, they would break it down into chunks and run it

當我說洗，我的意思是字面上，他們會分解成塊，並運行它。

through a water tank which could include minerals like magnetite to increase the density of

通過水箱，其中可以包括磁鐵礦等礦物質，以增加水的密度。

the liquid.

的液體。

The coal floats, because it is less dense, while the sulfur and other impurities sinks.

由於煤的密度較小，所以煤會浮起來，而硫磺和其他雜質則會沉下去。

A third clean coal technology is called “oxy-fuel combustion”.

第三種清潔煤技術叫 "全氧燃燒"。

When coal is burned at a power plant, the exhaust, also called “flue gas”, is usually

電廠燃煤時，排出的廢氣，也叫 "煙氣"，通常為

just pumped into the atmosphere.

只是泵入大氣中。

But oxy-fuel combustion actually reroutes this flue gas back into the plant, where it

但全氧燃燒實際上是將這些煙氣重新送回工廠，在那裡它

is paired with pure oxygen and reused to burn more coal.

是與純氧搭配，再利用來燃燒更多的煤。

The reason they do this is because the normal air we breathe air has a ton of nitrogen in

他們這樣做的原因是，我們正常呼吸的空氣中含有大量的氮氣。

it, and when it's heated with the coal, it reduces its efficiency and creates more

它，當它與煤一起加熱時，就會降低其效率，產生更多的。

nitrogen byproducts.

氮素副產品；

But when we reuse flue gas and combine it with pure oxygen, this solves both of these

但當我們把煙氣再利用，並與純氧結合，這就解決了這兩個問題。

problems and allows for hotter temperatures and more energy extraction.

問題，並可使溫度更高，提取更多的能量。

There are a number of other methods, but despite these efforts, environmental activists call

還有一些其他的方法，但儘管有這些努力，環保活動家們還是稱

“clean coal” an oxymoron, since it's not quite the anti-pollution miracle that

"潔淨煤 "是一個矛盾的說法，因為它並沒有達到抗汙染的奇蹟，而

coal companies make it out to be.

煤炭企業做出來的。

The problem is that these methods are incredibly expensive and energy intensive, and that money

問題是，這些方法非常昂貴，而且需要耗費大量的精力，而這些錢

and energy has to come from somewhere.

和能源必須來自某處。

Some estimate that the addition of capture carbon and storage to a coal fire plant increases

有人估計，在煤火廠中增加捕集碳和儲存碳會增加

coal use by 25% while keeping electricity output the same.

在保持電力輸出不變的情況下，煤炭使用量減少25%。

Another huge problem is that these byproducts aren't so much being eliminated as they

另一個巨大的問題是，這些副產品並沒有被淘汰，而是被淘汰了

are being moved elsewhere, which is more of a storage solution than an environmental one.

被轉移到其他地方，這更多的是一種存儲解決方案，而不是環境解決方案。

And on top of all that, for those reasons, clean coal technologies are not particularly

而除此之外，由於這些原因，潔淨煤技術並不是特別的

widespread, at least not enough to make a significant difference for the time being.

廣泛存在，至少暫時還不至於產生重大影響。

In the end, clean coal helps stem pollution at the source, but it seems to help coal companies

歸根結底，潔淨煤有助於從源頭上遏制汙染，但它似乎幫助煤企

maintain their image more than it helps the environment maintain itself.

維護他們的形象比幫助環境維護自己更重要。

If you've been a subscriber of DNews for a while, you might've seen some of our recent

如果你已經訂閱了DNews一段時間，你可能已經看到了我們最近的一些報道。

VR videos.

VR視頻。

It's a completely new way to tell stories, learn and experience the world, and we just

這是一個全新的方式來講述故事，學習和體驗世界，我們只是。

launched a brand new channel called Seeker VR.

推出了一個名為Seeker VR的全新頻道。

You can view the videos in 360 from your phone or computer.

你可以通過手機或電腦360度觀看視頻。

Click now to watch, or visit the first link in the description.

點擊現在觀看，或訪問描述中的第一個鏈接。

And make sure you subscribe to Seeker VR.

並確保你訂閱了《探索者VR》。

So, coal burning can contribute to acid rain.

所以，燃煤會造成酸雨。

But we don't really hear about acid rain anymore.

但我們現在已經不怎麼聽說酸雨的事了。

We used to a lot in the 70s and 80s.

我們在七八十年代經常。

Is it still a big deal?

這還是個大問題嗎？

What ever happened to acid rain?

酸雨怎麼了？

You can find out in this video here.

你可以在這個視頻中找到答案。

What other science issues have come up in this election that you wanna know more about?

這次選舉中還出現了哪些你想了解的科學問題？

Let us know down below in the comments and don't forget to like and subscribe to DNews

讓我們在下面的評論中知道，不要忘記喜歡和訂閱DNews。

for more video every day.

每天都有更多的視頻。