Coal Kills

Table 9: Anticipated health impacts of planned coal-fired TPPs and likely
number of lives saved by operating a flue gas desulphurization unit at all
the coal-fired TPPs in India
Premature mortality
under no FGD
Lives saved under 60%-
and 95%- FGD efficiency
Monetary benefits
under FGD (crores)
Year 2017 112,500 – 126,000 39,000 – 63,000 7,800 – 12,600
Year 2020 132,500 – 153,500 45,000 – 74,000 9,000 – 14,800
Year 2025 164,000 – 197,500 54,500 – 90,500 10,900 – 18,100
Year 2030 186,500 – 229,500 61,000 – 101,500 12,200 – 20,300
Figure 11: Percentage change in the PM 2.5 concentrations upon implementation of FGD (with 95%
efficiency) in all the proposed TPPs
The co-benefits of a FGD system extend to other pollutants. For example, in the wet FGD process,
the particulate matter is also trapped in the sorbents, resulting in further removal of the PM
emissions. The FGD system is applied after the flue gas passes through an ESP, which is known to
deliver up to 99% PM removal efficiency, which is further improved when the flue gas passes
through a post-combustion FGD system. Given the volume of the coal consumed in India and the
ash content, even a fraction of improvement in the PM removal efficiency will result in large
benefits for ambient PM concentrations and health impacts.
23 | Coal-fired TPPs in India