http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/cctc/topicalreports/pdfs/topical21.pdf
We've presented you with quite a few reports by now, documenting the fact that our very own United States Department of Energy recognizes the value of Coal; and understands that Coal could, without doubt, if used fully and completely, not only put an end to our outrageously detrimental national reliance on OPEC oil, but, provide us with follow-on benefits of related manufacturing industries and vastly increased opportunities for employment and individual prosperity.
As just two examples, see our reports of:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Coal Liquids Competitive With $50 Oil | Research & Development; concerning: "US Department of Energy; Office of Fossil Energy; National Energy Technology Laboratory; 'Coal-to-Liquids Technology; Clean Liquid Fuels from Coal'; COAL - - NOT AN ORDINARY ROCK: Technologies exist today to break down coal into the simple molecules of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and then to combine these molecules to form many useful products such as liquid transportation fuels, natural gas, and chemical feedstocks that are used to produce common household products such as tape and film (and) the United States has the opportunity to more fully utilize its abundant coal resource as a flexible feedstock to produce liquid fuels and chemicals that address the country’s energy and economic needs through Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) technology"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Coal + Biomass = Affordable, Low-Carbon Liquid Fuel | Research & Development; concerning: "'Affordable, Low-Carbon Diesel Fuel from Domestic Coal and Biomass'; DOE/NETL-2009/1349; Energy Systems Engineer Office of Systems, Analyses, and Planning National Energy Technology Laboratory; USDOE National Energy Technology Laboratory".
And, herein, we see that the USDOE and their National Energy Technology Laboratories, NETL, have gone yet even further, by demonstrating, that, not only can we make liquid hydrocarbon fuels and valuable industrial chemicals out of our abundant, domestic US Coal, we can, almost miraculously, continue to generate electricity from Coal while we synthesize those products, in an integrated process housed in, essentially, the same industrial facility.
As seen in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"Clean Coal Technology: Coproduction of Power, Fuels and Chemicals
(Note: The file itself is quite large and we are not attaching a copy of it to this dispatch. But, we will be separately transmitting a complete copy of it to the West Virginia Coal Association, should the initial link in this report malfunction.)
September, 2001
United States Department of Energy; National Energy Technology Laboratories
A report on a program conducted jointly under cooperative agreements between:
- Waste Management and Processors, PTY., LLC.
- Gasification Engineering Corp./Global Energy Inc.
- Texaco Energy Systems Inc.
Executive Summary: Coproduction of power, fuels and chemicals offers an innovative, economically advantageous means of achieving the nation’s energy goals.
Coproduction involves the integration of three major building blocks:
- Gasification of coal ... fuels to produce synthesis gas (syngas)
- Conversion of a portion of the syngas to high-value products such as liquid fuels and chemicals
- Combustion of syngas to produce electric power.
In coproduction, the relative amounts of syngas used for power generation or converted to fuels and chemicals depend on market demands. The goal of coproduction is to fully utilize the feedstock and maximize revenue streams. By permitting operation of the gasifier at full capacity to make syngas for either power generation or fuels and chemicals production, coproduction makes more efficient use of capital than
when producing power alone.
(We pause here to note, that, in this report, the USDOE and NETL address only the opportunity to use synthesis gas made from Coal to, alternatively, as changing electricity demand would dictate, switch between using Coal-derived synthesis gas for power generation or hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals production, in order to maximize the productivity and profit of such an integrated facility. Not addressed, as we have touched on in previous reports and as we will make further report of, are the opportunities to maximize energy production, or just total process efficiency, by capturing and utilizing all of the heat generated in the exothermic gasification and hydrocarbon synthesis reactions themselves. The total picture might likely be even better than our USDOE herein paints it.)
Gasification can accommodate a wide range of feedstocks, including coal and low-cost opportunity fuels such as ... biomass, and municipal wastes.
(See, for just one example of the above, our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | California Hydrogasifies Coal & Carbon-Recycling Wastes | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent 7,500,997 - Steam Pyrolysis ... to Enhance the Hydro-Gasification of Carbonaceous Materials; 2009; The Regents of the University of California; A process and apparatus for producing a synthesis gas for use as a gaseous fuel or as feed into a Fischer-Tropsch reactor to produce a liquid fuel in a substantially self-sustaining process. ... A process for converting carbonaceous material to energetic gases ... wherein the carbonaceous material comprises municipal waste, biomass, wood, coal, or a natural or synthetic polymer".)
By taking advantage of both fuel flexibility and product flexibility, coproduction offers significantly improved economics compared with conventional power generation facilities. Power production is achieved by the use
of integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC), an advanced technology that combines modern coal gasification with gas turbine and steam turbine power generation.
IGCC is one of the most efficient and cleanest of available technologies for coal-based power generation, with emissions comparable to those of natural gas-based power production.
(Concerning the above statement, as we will more clearly discuss in coming reports, some "IGCC" design configurations accomplish the lower emissions by using a technique which enhances the Hydrogen content of the synthesis gas, and reduces post-combustion Carbon Dioxide emissions, by utilizing a pre-combustion "water gas shift" reaction that produces a purified stream of CO2, which can be more easily extracted from the mix of gases, and shifts the syngas composition far more to pure Hydrogen. There are some rather significant energy penalties entailed by such a strategy; but, some opportunities, as well. Again, we will be addressing those issues in further reports concerning the pretty-darned significant potentials of Coal-based "integrated gasification combined-cycle" power generation.)
Coproduction projects currently envisioned incorporate a number of commercially demonstrated processes for converting syngas to fuels and chemicals, including:
(1) Fischer-Tropsch technology to produce a range of liquid products that can supply the gasoline and diesel fuel markets, and
(2) the LPMEOH (TM) process for manufacture of methanol, an industrial chemical in widespread use.
IGCC and conversion of syngas to liquid products have both been demonstrated successfully under the Clean Coal Technology (CCT) Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This Program is
a multi-phased effort administered by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
Three DOE-sponsored projects are underway to develop facilities for NETL’s Early Entrance Coproduction Plants (EECP). These projects are being conducted
by:
(1) Waste Management and Processors, PTY., LLC.,
(2) Gasification Engineering Corp., a Global Energy Inc. company, and:
(3) Texaco Energy Systems Inc.
(Regarding the former Texaco, and their independent development of the basic sort of Coal gasification which is the basis of the IGCC process, see, for only one example, our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Texaco 1970 Coal + H2O = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 3,544,291 - Coal Gasification Process; 1970; Assignee: Texaco, Incorporated; Abstract: A process for gasification of solid fuel by partial oxidation to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen ... in which pulverized solid fuel, such as coal ... is supplied to the reactor as a slurry with water. This invention relates to a process for the production of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, i.e., synthesis gas, from solid carbonaceous fuels ... . (The) solid fuel, in fine particle form, is suspended in steam and introduced into the reaction zone ... to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen as the principle products of reaction. The resulting product gas or synthesis gas comprises carbon monoxide and hydrogen and contains minor amounts of carbon dioxide. The term 'synthesis gas' (means) mixtures of carbon monoxide and hydrogen suitable ... for synthesis of hydrocarbons and alcohols".)
Each project involves preliminary process designs, conceptual economics, and site specific studies.
If the concepts evaluated in these projects appear feasible from a technical and economic standpoint, the project teams will be positioned to prepare detailed engineering designs and obtain funding to construct and
operate the EECPs.
The projects described in this report represent a major step in the development of advanced technology modules for integration into the high efficiency, near pollution-free energy concept that constitutes the core of DOE’s Vision 21 Program, with a goal of achieving commercial operation by the year 2007.
(Missed that target by a tad, we would say.We wonder why.)
Implementation of these projects will constitute a major step in the development of the advanced energy systems needed to maintain our prosperity, protect the environment, and provide energy security. The
proposed plants will also result in a significant reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide.
(Again, as we will see in following reports, the method by which advanced IGCC concepts propose to reduce emissions of "especially carbon dioxide" actually produce more CO2, but, in a form that's more readily separated and made available for utilization, as, perhaps, via one or another of the technologies described, for just two out of many possible examples, in our reports of:
West Virginia Coal Association | New York City CO2 to Methane via Artificial Photosynthesis | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20120208903 - Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Methane Using Visible Light;2012; Research Foundation of City University of New York; Abstract: The invention relates to a method for converting carbon dioxide to methane"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | German Solar Energy is Converting CO2 into Methane | Research & Development; concerning: "'Cutting-Edge Technology for the Long-Term Storage of Electricity from Renewable Sources'; Solar Fuel Technology GmbH & Co KG was founded in Salzburg, Austria in 2007. SolarFuel uses electric power to directly convert the energy-free raw materials CO2 and water into synthetic natural gas: In the first stage of electrolysis, water is separated into hydrogen and oxygen. In the second stage, hydrogen is directly converted into methane (CH4) with CO2. Here, the energy density increases by factor 3, and a marketable and manageable energy source is created which is of standard quality and which can be fed directly into the natural gas grid. The attainable level of efficiency is over 60 percent"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Iceland, August 2012, CO2 to Gasoline and Diesel | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20120201717 - Process and System for Producing Liquid Fuel from CO2 and Water; 2012; Assignee: CR (Carbon Recycling International), Iceland; Abstract: A process and system for producing high octane fuel from carbon dioxide and water is disclosed. The feedstock for the production line is industrial carbon dioxide and water, which may be of lower quality. The end product can be high octane gasoline, high cetane diesel or other liquid hydrocarbon mixtures suitable for driving conventional combustion engines or hydrocarbons suitable for further industrial processing or commercial use".
Implementing of any of the above options could well more than offset the energy penalties of incorporating the water gas shift reaction into IGCC configurations for pre-combustion carbon capture; again, as we will address in future reports.)
Three major challenges facing the United States are continued economic growth, environmental protection, and energy security. Achieving these objectives depends on an adequate supply of affordable energy produced in an environmentally friendly way. To prosper in the 21st century, we need 21st century technology.
A major goal of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Coal Technology (CCT) Program has been to demonstrate the cutting edge technologies the nation will need to meet our economic and environmental
goals. In the United States there are several hundred years of coal reserves.
Coproduction of power, fuels and chemicals offers an innovative, economically advantageous means of achieving our energy needs. Coproduction involves the integration of three major building blocks:
(1) Gasification of coal ... to produce synthesis gas (syngas)
(2) Conversion of a portion of the syngas to high-value products such as liquid fuels and chemicals
(3) Combustion of syngas and unreacted syngas from the conversion processes to produce electric power in a combined-cycle system.
The relative amounts of syngas used for power generation or converted to fuels and chemicals can be varied depending on market demands.
The first two steps are referred to as Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle (IGCC) operation. In IGCC, the fuel (coal) is reacted with steam and oxygen to produce syngas, which consists of hydrogen (H2), carbon
monoxide (CO), and smaller amounts of other gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), water vapor, and methane (CH4), with traces of other materials.
This gas is cleaned of its contaminants and used for electric power production.
Such a system is inherently more efficient and cleaner than conventional PC (Pulverized Coal)-fired systems, with efficiencies typically being above 40% and emissions reduced to the lowest levels currently achievable. In addition to higher efficiency, gasification has many other advantages. One advantage is that H2S and NH3 are much more easily scrubbed from the gasifier effluent than are sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the stack gas of a PC-fired boiler.
Furthermore, the recovered H2S is readily converted to sulfur or sulfuric acid, both of which are commodity chemicals with a large market. Likewise, ammonia is a commodity chemical that can easily be sold.
(Concerning the above-noted recovery of Sulfur and Ammonia, NH3, and the extra value such recovery could bring to a technically and commercially integrated process for gasifying Coal to co-produce, mainly, electricity and hydrocarbon fuels, see, for two examples, our reports of:
West Virginia Coal Association | FMC Corporation Recovers Sulfur from Coal Syngas | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,302,218 - Process for Controlling Sulfur Oxides in Coal Gasification; 1981; Assignee: FMC Corporation; SO2 in ... flue gas is removed by contacting the flue gas with the incoming coal feed whereby the SO2 is adsorbed on the coal and converted to H2S in the gasifier. Sulfur is recovered from the H2S in a Claus Plant"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Converts Coal Exhaust into Fertilizer | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 6,447,437 - Method for Reducing CO2, CO, NOx and SOx Emissions; 2002; Assignee: UT Battelle, LLC, Oak Ridge, TN (USDOE); Abstract: Industrial combustion facilities are integrated with greenhouse gas-solidifying fertilizer production reactions so that CO2, CO, NOx, and SOx emissions can be converted prior to emission into carbonate-containing fertilizers, mainly NH4HCO3 and/or (NH2)2CO, plus a small fraction of NH4NO3 and (NH4)2SO4. The invention enhances sequestration of CO2 into soil and the earth subsurface, reduces NO3 contamination of surface and groundwater, and stimulates photosynthetic fixation of CO2 from the atmosphere. The method for converting CO2, CO, NOx, and SOx emissions into fertilizers includes the step of collecting these materials from the emissions of industrial combustion facilities such as fossil fuel-powered energy sources and transporting the emissions to a reactor. In the reactor, the CO2, CO, N2, SOx, and/or NOx are converted into carbonate-containing fertilizers using H2, CH4, or NH3".)
Thus, IGCC plants are environmentally more friendly. Furthermore, the recovered H2S is readily converted to sulfur or sulfuric acid, both of which are commodity chemicals with a large market. Likewise, ammonia is a commodity chemical that can easily be sold.
Another major advantage of gasification is that it can accommodate a wide variety of feedstocks, including low-cost, so-called opportunity fuels.
(For another example of "opportunity fuels" which can be gasified along with Coal, in addition to those detailed in our above-cited report concerning: "United States Patent 7,500,997 - Steam Pyrolysis ... to Enhance the Hydro-Gasification of Carbonaceous Materials", see:
West Virginia Coal Association | Texaco Coal Conversion Recycles Carbon & Disposes of Waste | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,983,296 - Partial Oxidation of Sewage Sludge; 1991; Assignee: Texaco Inc.; Abstract: Municipal sanitary sewage sludge is disposed of by an improved partial oxidation process without polluting the environment. Aqueous slurries of sewage sludge are upgraded by hydrothermal treatment, preferably while being sheared, concentrated, and then mixed with a supplemental fuel, preferably coal ... for reacting with oxygen containing gas in a free-flow partial oxidation gas generator. A process for the partial oxidation of sewage sludge (and) a supplemental solid fuel comprising particles of coal ... thereby producing a hot raw effluent stream of synthesis gas".)
In addition, the syngas can be converted to a broad range of useful products, such as diesel fuel, methanol, higher waxes, ammonia, and other chemicals.
In the coproduction concept, an energy complex produces not only power, but also fuels and/or chemicals. This greatly increases the flexibility of the complex and offers economic advantages compared with separate plants, one producing only power and the other only fuels or chemicals. Operation of the gasifier at full capacity to make syngas for either power generation or manufacture of higher value products such as fuels and chemicals maximizes the efficiency of capital utilization.
(The "capital", as above, is one unfortunate aspect of this sort of technology. There are, however, companies who do want to do it. Unfortunately, as we might document in a future dispatch, a coalition, an "unholy alliance" as it were, of competing energy resource companies and environmental activists has emerged to challenge every new Coal-fired power plant and Coal gasification plant that has been proposed.)
This report discusses in more detail some of the available options, the technologies involved, and what DOE is doing to promote them and ensure they are available as we need them.
In today’s changing world, single-purpose, single-technology power plants are limited in their ability to compete in the marketplace. Deregulation is completely restructuring the electric power industry. Competition is forcing energy suppliers to downsize, streamline operations, and merge.
Gasification will be the key to providing low-cost energy for continued U.S. economic growth while, at the same time, furthering national goals to protect the environment and mitigate concerns about global climate
change. Successful new energy firms will capitalize on opportunities to integrate electric power generation with industrial processes.
Energy firms that produce a variety of products, such as steam, chemicals, and fuels, are poised to capture an increasing volume of electricity sales in a deregulated environment. In a competitive energy market,
systems that offer the producer reduced market risk and enhanced revenues from high-value products are essential.
Gasification systems will prosper in this type of environment by offering significant hedges against market and environmental risks. Gasification in conjunction with syngas conversion processes represents the only technology capable of coproducing power and a wide variety of commodity and premium products.
A gasification facility can be built to convert virtually any carbonaceous feedstock into products such as power, steam, hydrogen, transportation fuels, and value-added chemicals.
Of the gasification plants that have been constructed to date, several have improved their economic viability through the sale of coproducts. In the United States, the Eastman Chemical Company’s commercial plant at
Kingsport, Tennessee, operated since 1983, has pioneered the use of coal gasification solely for the production of chemicals from carbon monoxide and syngas-derived methanol.
(We've made numerous reports of and references to Eastman's Tennessee Coal-to-Methanol operations. For some perspective in addition to the technical issues, see our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Tennessee Coal to Methanol & Dimethyl Ether | Research & Development; which contains separate reference to the "US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources;
Hearing/Meeting: Oversight on Natural Gas; Full Committee Hearing; July 10, 2003; Witness: Brian Ferguson, Chairman and CEO, Eastman Chemical; Eastman is a pioneer in using coal gasification to produce chemicals. Coal gasification is among the major rational responses to present and foreseeable natural gas shortages and price increases. Coal is the most abundant and price-stable fossil energy resource in the United States. Chemical industry history strongly suggests that abundant and low cost feedstocks, market competition, and stable geopolitics are major factors in technological innovation and economic sustainability. Coal gasification is the coal technology that offers the best opportunity to support environmentally responsible and competitively sustainable basic manufacturing and electricity generation in the United States".)
Gasification systems are the basis of a new energy industry. The electric power industry is keenly aware that gasification is a leading candidate to provide clean and efficient baseload power when major capacity
additions are needed.
Gasification has inherent characteristics that will enable major energy industries - - electric power generation, ... chemicals and fuels industries - - and energy users to remold their technology and business structures to meet future market needs and take advantage of new opportunities.
The objective of coproduction is to maximize the recovery of energy and products from a wide range of fuels, including coal and low-cost opportunity feedstocks such as ... biomass, and municipal wastes. Coproduction of power, heat, fuels and chemicals from syngas offers the potential of significantly improved economics
compared with generating only power. The concept of producing a varied slate of products along with electric power is a departure from conventional practice in which these functions are accomplished in separate
facilities. Coproduction takes advantage of synergies between syngas utilization processes and power production to meet changing market demand."
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As above, the "Coproduction of power, heat, fuels and chemicals from (Coal) syngas offers the potential of significantly improved economics compared with generating only power"; and, our read of some available references indicates that a number of significant companies have developed and proposed plans to do it.
But, they are being stymied by the uncertainties of legislation and regulation; and, by the semi-covert actions of unlikely alliances formed of Coal competitors and supposedly conscientious Coal objectors.
Our editors don't much care for us introducing negative notes in our reports, and naming names. But, be assured that a small group of Coal Country news reporters, who are among our regular addressees of these more technical dispatches, will be hearing all about it from us on the side.
In the meantime, just keep in mind the facts as presented so openly herein by our own United States Government, as it is embodied in the United States Department of Energy:
Coal gasification "in conjunction with syngas conversion processes represents the only technology capable of coproducing power and a wide variety of commodity and premium products"; and, in fact, a Coal "gasification facility can be built to convert virtually any carbonaceous feedstock", including Coal and all sorts of Carbon-recycling, renewable biomass and wastes, "into products such as power, ... transportation fuels, and value-added chemicals".
Our US public tax money was spent so that our US Government could establish the evidence of those facts and draw those conclusions.
And, it's far past time the US tax-paying public, especially that tax-paying public resident in US Coal Country, was given back their money's worth in terms of the information, and, of the opportunity to, as the USDOE herein puts it, utilize Coal, through gasification, as an "economically advantageous means of achieving the nation’s", our nation's, "energy goals".