Green Car Congress: TransGas and SK EC team on West Virginia coal-to-gasoline project
Enclosed is some additional information on the Mingo County, WV, Coal-to-Gasoline conversion facility, as per our immediately previous dispatch.
Excerpts follow, again without appended comment.
Note, however, that they will, we believe in confirmation of some of our earlier reports about the project, be utilizing ExxonMobil's MTG(r), methanol-to-gasoline, technology,about which we have many times reported, wherein the Coal will be first converted into Methanol; and, the Methanol then converted into Gasoline.
Also, note especially one statement in the main body of the text:
"... air emissions are expected to be so low that it will qualify as a minor source under US law."
TransGas and SK E&C team on West Virginia coal-to-gasoline project
28 October 2010
TransGas Development Systems, LLC announced an agreement with SK Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd (SKE&C) leading to engineering, procurement and construction of its first US coal-to-gasoline plant—Adams Fork Energy—to be located in Mingo County, West Virginia. (Earlier post.) SKE&C is the Engineering & Construction arm of South Korea-based SK Group.
The Adams Fork Energy project will convert regional coal into premium-grade gasoline, producing 18,000 barrels per day (756,000 gallons US, 2.86 million liters). When fully developed, the Adams Fork project will be the largest coal-to-gasoline project in the world, according to Adam Victor, President and CEO of TransGas Development Systems.
The project team has been issued a permit to construct by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and plans to begin work on the site during the second quarter of 2011.
The plant will have several process components. First, coal is gasified to produce synthesis gas, using Uhde PRENFLO PDQ gasifiers. The synthesis gas will then be cleaned to remove impurities, turning most into marketable byproducts. Next, the synthesis gas will be converted into methanol, which in turn will be converted into gasoline utilizing ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company’s (EMRE) MTG process. During the operation of the integrated facility, air emissions are expected to be so low that it will qualify as a minor source under US law.
SKE&C’s experience includes Korea’s largest oil refinery; the Cadereyta and Madero Refinery upgrades in Mexico; and full-scale refinery projects in Kuwait, UAE, Brazil and Ghana.