China’s resource endowment of being oil-poor, having even less gas, and being relatively rich in coal has determined that its power source structure is dominated by coal-fired power [
1]. At present, the coal for power generation in China accounts for about 50% of total coal consumption [
2] and about 70% of total electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants [
3]. Although coal-fired power provides important energy support for China’s economic and social development, its generation emits large amounts of air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO
2), nitrogen oxides (NO
x), and heavy metals, which seriously affect the ambient air quality. Thus far, China has issued a series of air pollutant emission standards for coal-fired power, and the newest "Emission standard of air pollutants for thermal power plants" (GB 13223–2011) [
4] demonstrates China’s leading role in eco-environmental protection. To advance the construction of ecological civilization after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), coal-fired power enterprises have gradually changed their understanding of pollution discharge and active environmental protection has become the trend. In this context, the former Shenhua Group benchmarked the specified emission limits of gas-fired power plants in GB 13223–2011 and proposed a near-zero emission standard of air pollutants for clean coal-fired power [
5]; that is, the emission concentrations of PM, SO
2, and NO
x should be no higher than 5, 35, and 50 mg∙m
-3 (standard conditions, dry, 6% O
2), respectively. After that, the Chinese government issued the Action Plan for the Upgrading and Retrofitting of Coal-Fired Power Plants for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction (2014– 2020), which explicitly required coal-fired power enterprises to rapidly promote ultra-low emission, with emission limits of 10, 35, and 50 mg∙m
-3 , respectively, for PM, SO
2, and NO
x (standard conditions, dry, 6% O
2) [
6]. Due to China’s energy resource endowment, power development, and environmental constraints, the air pollution problems caused by coal-fired power should be continuously focused upon. Therefore, efforts to strictly control air pollutant emissions and aim for clean and efficient coal use still have a long way to go in the coal-fired power industry.