A town gets its electricity from an old coal-fired power station. The town council is considering replacing it with a new power station that burns natural gas.
The table shows the mass of each pollutant released for each unit (kWh) of electricity generated.
| Pollutant | Coal power station / g per kWh | Natural gas power station / g per kWh |
|---|---|---|
| carbon dioxide | 910 | 400 |
| sulfur dioxide | 3.2 | 0.01 |
| oxides of nitrogen | 1.9 | 0.6 |
| particulates (soot) | 0.3 | 0.01 |
Name the pollutant in the table that is produced from impurities in the fuel.
Suggest why the natural gas power station releases much less sulfur dioxide than the coal power station.
Calculate the percentage decrease in the mass of carbon dioxide released per kWh if the natural gas power station is used instead of the coal power station. Give your answer to 2 significant figures.
Evaluate the environmental effects of replacing the coal power station with the natural gas power station. Use the data in the table and your own knowledge.
37 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Chemistry 9.1 Fuels, covering 9.1.1 Hydrocarbons and crude oil, 9.1.2 Fractional distillation of crude oil and its fractions, 9.1.3 The alkanes as a homologous series, 9.1.4 Complete and incomplete combustion, 9.1.5 Pollutants from burning fuels, 9.1.6 Hydrogen as a fuel and non-renewable fossil fuels, and 9.1.7 Cracking of larger alkanes. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.