12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 28, 2009
In a few years, the researchers predict, their discovery could lead to oil that costs $35 a barrel instead of the current $65 to $70.
Richard "Rick" Billo, UTA's associate dean of engineering and research, explained the coal-to-oil project in a column a year ago. His team had three goals:
• "To produce a quality oil out of coal.
• "Get the production cost of that oil down to at least $35 per barrel.
• "Come up with a concept for refining the oil."
The team has accomplished all those things, Billo said, and coming up with a way to refine the oil was key.
The group developed a microrefinery that can manufacture oil from coal without the huge financial cost associated with traditional refineries.
"The team's microrefinery would fit anywhere you could put a structure that's 20 feet wide by 20 feet long by 20 feet high," Billo said. "Each microrefinery would cost about $5 million and could produce 500 to 1,000 barrels of crude per day.""
And, Mike, here's the kicker for us:
"UTA's methodology was based on work at the University of West Virginia, which holds patents on converting bituminous soft coal, a much higher grade than lignite, into crude oil."
And, some more:
"The two schools still work together, but UTA found that working with lignite presented demands different from those of bituminous coal."
"Guido Verbec of the University of North Texas Chemistry Department analyzed the UTA oil from lignite and said: "The distribution of the hydrocarbon chains are between C23 and C33, so that's a good distribution and looks more refined than standard crude oil.""
"Shack Hawkins, a chemical engineer with Polaris Engineering Inc. of Louisiana, said: "Based on the data UT Arlington has presented for analysis, the products they have produced look like a very promising petroleum."
WVU holds coal-to-liquid patents that could deliver oil at $35 per barrel. And, that's from low-grade Texas lignite. What would oil from our "higher grade", higher Btu, bituminous cost?
And, if UT's relatively inexpensive micorefinery can profitably process low-Btu, high-ash lignite, could they be made semi-portable and moved about WV to clean up - profitably utilize - coal mine waste accumulations, many of which are still laden with sub-bituminous organic content?