According to the Sierra Club, "Despite the industry's hype, there's no such thing as 'clean coal. ' But new technologies and policies can help reduce coal plants

' deadly emissions." ... Carbon dioxide from the coal gasification is shipped to Canada where it is injected into the ground to aid in oil recovery.

Can you purify coal?

Coal cleaning by 'washing' has been standard practice in developed countries for some time. It reduces emissions of ash and sulfur dioxide when the coal is burned. Electrostatic precipitators and fabric filters can remove 99% of the fly ash from the flue gases – these technologies are in widespread use.

Why is there no such thing as clean coal?

That's because in addition to carbon dioxide, coal powered plants emit a host of noxious pollutants. For example, each year, coal fired plants pump out 146,000 tons of PM2. 5 pollution, a form of particulate matter roughly 40 times smaller than a grain of sand.