WV Coal Member Meeting 2024 1240x200 1 1

Coal Fuel Cheaper

 

We wrote earlier about the costly inefficiencies, and the deceptive economic and environmental contradictions, inherent in the use of agriculturally-based ethanol as either a gasoline additive, for fuel purposes, or a liquid fuel replacement. It is a simple hydrocarbon, and contains relatively low energy content.
 
Ethanol is a beneficial additive for gasoline, however, aside from it's popularly misperceived value as a liquid fuel.
 
It can enhance the process of internal combustion, serving to reduce engine "knock", and thus act as a replacement for lead and the even more toxic lead replacements the fuel industry has been forced into adopting.
 
Moreover, ethanol, added to gasoline, has been reported to help in the reduction of "smog", commonly attributed to pollution from automotive exhaust.
 
As we've documented, ethanol can be efficiently synthesized from coal, and that fact, as well as it's value as a gasoline additive, is confirmed by the enclosed report.
 
Some excerpts, with comments inserted: 

"The effect of synthetic ethanol on octane response and fuel performance of fuel mixtures was compared to that of fermented ethanol of 99.9% purity sourced from California. It was concluded that the synthetic ethanol produced from coal compared very favorably to bio-ethanol, and it is therefore a feasible alternative to the fermented alcohol in use elsewhere in the world."

And, interestingly:

"Coal-derived synthetic ethanol is currently used in South Africa as a 12% blend with gasoline."

We'll note that the "coal-derived" ethanol is being blended, in South Africa, with Sasol's "coal-derived" gasoline, their intensive production and use of which we have thoroughly documented.

And, perhaps most interestingly, we learn:

"Synthetic ethanol from coal was half the cost of ethanol from cane."

By "cane", they mean sugarcane, which can be grown in Africa, and which would be readily available throughout the year, unlike highly-touted seasonal US sources of ethanol, such as corn. We would be forced to an ancillary conclusion that "synthetic ethanol from coal would be less than half the cost of ethanol from corn".

Especially so when it is realized that, in most instances, electricity generated from coal is required to help process and ferment, and then to distill ethanol from, agricultural produce.

Further, and importantly: 

"The U.S. Senate passed an energy bill that contains a provision (RFS) that would mandate the use of bio-ethanol in gasoline to 5 billion gallons by the year 2012. The Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that this provision will cost taxpayers $5 billion over the next ten years."
 
So, by blind, unknowledgeable, insistence on "bio"-ethanol, an additional $5 billion will be added to our already-exorbitant bill for liquid fuels.
 
It has been thoroughly documented: We can manufacture the gasoline we need from our own, domestic coal, and thus stop sending our money overseas to unfriendly regimes. And, to help reduce air pollution and improve engine performance, we can add ethanol to that coal-derived gasoline; ethanol that can itself be made from coal at half the cost of making it from agricultural feed stock.
 

Corn's Carbon Problem


We have documented that Ethanol can be a valuable additive for automotive fuel, for a couple of reasons.
 
We have also documented that it can be manufactured from coal more cheaply than it can be fermented and distilled from agricultural produce.
 
And, we have made the argument that, given the world's myriad social problems, arable land and the food crops that can be grown upon it should be devoted to feeding mankind, rather than to powering the automobiles of the relatively privileged, relatively few.
 
Proponents of agricultural Ethanol argue that is a "green" fuel which recycles greenhouse gas.
 
Not necessarily, as you might know if you recall your early experiments in the art of home brewing.
 
In addition to causing the secondary generation of greenhouse gas, through creating power generation demands for processing and distilling, Ethanol manufacture through the process of fermentation itself produces significant quantities of Carbon Dioxide. 
 
It produces so much CO2, in fact, that Ethanol producers are being faced with the same problems as our coal-fired power plants, as the following excerpt from the enclosed kink, regarding a corn-based Ohio project, attests:
 
"GREENVILLE — A proposed $92.8 million carbon sequestration project in Darke County has been abandoned “due to business considerations,” according to the controversial project’s lead partner. 

The project had drawn growing opposition from the Darke County community in recent weeks, including from local officials and state Reps. Jim Zehringer (R-Fort Recovery) and Richard Adams (R-Troy), county representatives who both said there were too many unanswered questions surrounding the injection of carbon dioxide from an ethanol plant underground.

Opponents said they feared an impact on property values and potential seismic activity from injecting the carbon dioxide underground, among other concerns.

The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC, Ohio’s largest ethanol plant, generates annually more than 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas thought to contribute to climate change. Virtually all of it would have been injected underground if a porous rock layer filled with saltwater far beneath the ethanol plant had been deemed suitable."

That's a bunch of CO2, ain't it?  All from corn. And, keep in mind: Moreafter a no-doubt prodigious amount of CO2 was generated by all the farm machinery that cultivated and harvested the crop. CO2 would be produced and emitted when those environmentally-responsible corn squeezins get combusted in our cars' engines. And, that's all

Ethanol is a useful, and even somewhat beneficial, fuel. When used as a gasoline additive, it seems to help engine performance and it reduces the production of pollutants, aside from CO2.

If we do want to use Ethanol as an adjunct automotive fuel to improve exhaust emissions, we can make it more cheaply, and more cleanly, from coal. And, in doing so, we can stop the waste of food crops that would see far better service in helping to feed the world.

More Algae CO2 Recycling

 

We had earlier reported on this Arizona project, wherein algae will be used to recycle, into "liquid transportation fuels" the carbon emissions from a coal gasification plant.
 
In this facility, the syngas produced from coal gasification will be combusted directly to generate power. Keep in mind that it could, though, instead be passed over a catalyst bed for condensation and conversion, via Fischer-Tropsch derivative technology, into additional liquid fuels.
 
And, to further illustrate how the true potentials haven't been fully explored or developed, recall from our earlier citations that hot syngas, once generated from coal, can be passed through a "magnetohydrodynamic" (MHD) generator to produce electricity without combustion, and then be directed into a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst bed for liquid fuel synthesis.
 
The excerpt:
 
"APS gets $70.5mn for carbon capture project

15 September 2009-- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $70.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to Arizona Public Service (APS) to expand a reuse carbon mitigation project at a coal-fired power plant.

APS's algae-based carbon mitigation project will be expanded to include testing with a coal-based gasification system. The process aims to minimize production of carbon dioxide when gasifying coal. The company will expand a concept for co-production of electricity and substitute natural gas by coal gasification, while scaling up a technology where CO2 emissions are biologically captured by algae and processed into liquid transportation fuels. APS will focus on the engineering aspects of continuous cultivation, harvesting, and processing of algae grown from power plant emissions. The host facility for this project is the Cholla Power Plant in Arizona.

Funding for the expansion falls under the ARRA's $1.52 billion solicitation for carbon capture and storage from industrial sources. The APS project is one of two existing CCS projects in the industrial carbon capture program administered by DOE's Office of Fossil Energy. The other is a Ramgen Power Systems project to scale-up a device that uses supersonic shockwaves to compress CO2 for capture and storage."

They are, in another facility, in the second project mentioned, developing more efficient industrial technology for the actual capture of CO2, i.e., "supersonic shockwaves to compress CO2". Instead of "capture and storage", however, such improved recovery technology could, conceivably, support more efficient algae cultivation, or provide more concentrated CO2 to a Sabatier or Carnol processor for the direct production of hydrocarbon fuels.

In any case, the issues of punitive Cap&Trade and the oil industry's running dog Sequestration are beginning to seem more and more like irrelevant, coal industry-crippling wastes of time and money; and irresponsible squanderings of a potentially-valuable raw material resource.

Consol Holds 14+ CoalTL Patents

Subject: Stewart, CoalTL: Consol Holds 14+ CoalTL Patents
 
We introduce you herein to Dr. Everett Gorin, formerly a researcher with Consolidation Coal (Consol), by last reports retired and living in California.
 
He was a prolific researcher during his Consol career, accumulating more than 50 patents, some of which we will reference for you below.
 
First, though, some statements made about him, during presentation to him of the American Chemical Society's  Henry Storch Award for Fuel Chemistry, in 1965:
 
"He is credited with being the inventor of the Consol "Coal to Gasoline Process" which is embodied in a pilot plant being erected in Cresap, West Virginia. This process, involving partial conversion of coal to gasoline and utilization of the residue for power generation, permits a substantial decrease in the manufacturing cost of gasoline as compared to prior coal conversion processes."
 
"Dr. Gorin has made significant contributions to an array of coal conversion processes, including low temperature carbonization, gasification of char, desulfurization of char, manufacture of hydrogen, synthesis of high BTU pipeline gas, direct generation of electricity from coal via fuel cells and conversion of coal to gasoline."
 
"One of Dr. Gorin’s most recent achievements is a direct one-step conversion of coal extract to gasoline in high yields, Dr. Gorin holds approximately 50 U.S., patents on coal processing."
 
In 1965, Dr. Gorin already held, approximately, 50 US patents on coal processing. Among them were:
 
United States Patent 3018241: Production of hydrogen-rich liquid fuels from coal, January 23, 1962 (aka, in other sources:: "Gasoline feedstock from bituminous coal"). 
 
That was far from his only patent related to the technology of converting coal into liquid fuels, though it might have been the first. Later ones included:

 

T989004 Hydrogen transfer solvent extraction of coal December 4, 1979
A coal liquefaction process is provided in which a hydrogen donor solvent is used in the liquefaction of the coal. The process is designed to maintain the hydrogen donor solvent in balance by hydrogenation of the spent hydrogen donor solvent and selected precursors of the hydrogen donor
 
Solvent makeup in solvent extraction of coal December 4, 1979
A coal liquefaction process is provided in which a hydrogen donor solvent is used to at least partially liquefy the coal. The process is maintained in hydrogen donor solvent balance by treatment of selected products obtained in the course of the coal liquefaction process.
 
T989002 Solvent makeup in hydrogen transfer extraction December 4, 1979
A coal liquefaction process is provided in which a hydrogen donor solvent is used in the liquefaction of the coal. The process is designed to maintain the hydrogen donor solvent in balance by hydrogenation of the spent hydrogen donor solvent and precursors of the hydrogen donor solvent
 
T989001 Hydrogen donor solvent extraction of coal December 4, 1979
A coal liquefaction process is provided in which a hydrogen donor solvent is used to at least partially liquefy the coal. The process is maintained in hydrogen donor solvent balance by treatment of products obtained in the course of the coal liquefaction process. 
 
4578175 Combined process for coal pyrolysis and char gasification March 25, 1986
Finely divided coal is reacted in a combination of processes comprising flash pyrolysis and fluidized bed gasification of char from the pyrolysis. A portion of the char which is heated by the steam-oxygen gasification provides the heat for the pyrolysis step.
 
4440546 Process for gasification of carbonaceous material April 3, 1984
A process of tar destruction in gasification of carbonaceous material comprising providing a mixture of finely divided calcium compound of a particle size smaller than 65 mesh and finely divided carbonaceous material of a particle size smaller than 65 mesh.
 
4138224 Production of fixed bed gasifier feedstock and fuels from coal February 6, 1979
A two-step process for the production of fixed bed gasifier feedstock from a coal liquefaction effluent slurry is provided which comprises (a) treating a coal liquefaction effluent slurry in a stirred vessel with a mixture of anti-solvent and coal-derived carbonaceous solids.
 
4138223 Manufacture of pellets from coal liquefaction products February 6, 1979
The effluent slurry product from a coal liquefaction reactor is split into two streams. The first stream is subjected to vacuum distillation to produce a vacuum bottoms. The second stream is mixed with particulate char to form a solids-enriched slurry feedstock.
 
4138222 Pelletization of coal conversion products February 6, 1979
Pelletization of a pumpable non-distillable conversion product of coal is effected by agglomerating, in a pelletization zone, a mixture of such product with finely divided coaly solids and recycled undersized pellets from solvent extract and pellet classification zones.
 
4138221 Manufacture of pellets from coal conversion products February 6, 1979
The manufacture of pellets from pumpable non-distillable coal conversion products is accomplished as follows. The non-distillable product is split into two streams. A pelletizable composition is made from a mixture of one stream with char made from the other stream.
 
4137298 Production of a hydrogen-rich gas from a hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide-containing January 30, 1979
In a process for the production of hydrogen-rich gas from a gas containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other components by contacting the gas in a formate synthesis zone with an aqueous solution containing alkali metal carbonate and/or bicarbonate
 
4134826 Method for producing hydrocarbon fuels from heavy polynuclear hydrocarbons by use of molten meta January 16, 1979
In a process for hydrocracking heavy polynuclear carbonaceous feedstocks to produce lighter hydrocarbon fuels by contacting the heavy feedstocks with hydrogen in the presence of a molten metal halide catalyst, thereafter separating at least a substantial portion of the carbonaceous material.
 
4134821 Maintenance of solvent balance in coal liquefaction process January 16, 1979
A coal liquefaction process is provided in which a solvent is used to at least partially liquefy the coal. The process is maintained in solvent balance without extraneous addition of make-up solvent.
 
4094766 Coal liquefaction product deashing process June 13, 1978
Liquefaction of coal is effected by extraction of coal by a distillable solvent in the presence of hydrogen under conditions selected to produce a coal liquefaction product, the major portion of which is distillable.  
                                                                                      
                                                       
There have been, are and will be geniuses among us, Mike. We've introduced you herein to one of them. 
 
But, we must ask: Why have we, especially those of us in Coal Country, not heard previously of  Everett Gorin?
 
Of course, all of his coal-related patents were officially assigned to his employer, Consolidation Coal - Consol; and, then, after the acquisition, to Consol's new parent, Continental Oil. We'll suppose that to be answer enough.

More CO2 Recycling with Algae

 
 
As you should by now know, we have elaborated on the direct capture, at the point of emission, and recycling, into liquid fuels, via Sabatier or Carnol technologies, of Carbon Dioxide produced by various types of coal processors, as a preferred and profitable course to follow in the resolution of carbon emission issues, as opposed to the costly, punitive and counter-productive concepts of Sequestration and Cap&Trade.
 
Harvesting waste or purpose-grown botanical cellulose in various forms, as well, and adding it directly to the coal being processed in a coal-to-liquid fuel conversion facility of appropriate technical design, would also serve to recycle Carbon Dioxide and help to stabilize it's atmospheric concentrations.
 
We have also documented efforts underway to establish "farms" for the intensive cultivation of algae as a means to capture and recycle CO2. Such concepts utilizing algae might provide additional options for the uses of algal biomass. Oil expressed from algae, for instance, has been successfully employed, with some processing, as a jet fuel and diesel replacement, as we've documented. High-cellulose strains could, presumably, also be liquefied with coal after, oil is extracted from them, via some of the coal conversion technologies, such as in Mobil's 1981 patented process we've recorded for you.
 
Following are a few excerpts from the enclosed article, which presents a fuller case for the use of algae to help coal help us achieve domestic energy independence. Additional comment followins. 

"Sequestration prevents carbon from entering the atmosphere by capturing and storing the gas underground in geologic caverns and oil formations. Sequestration is extremely costly."

And:

"It doesn't make sense spending public dollars putting a valuable waste product (carbon dioxide) underground. Algae are a biological alternative. There are certainly challenges to growing algae near coal plants: algae bioreactors have not been implemented on a large scale, coal power plants don't have a lot of excess water, and power companies are not farmers! Growing algae is fundamentally a farming operation - controlling inputs and harvesting algae sustainably. When has the word "harvest" entered the vocabulary of a coal plant operator? Coal farmers - a foreign concept."

We all know that "Sequestration is extremely costly". And, the real cost must include a calculation for the fact that, as we have repeatedly said, "It doesn't make sense spending public dollars putting a valuable waste product (carbon dioxide) underground". Carbon dioxide is actually a by-product of our coal use. It only becomes a "waste product" when we treat it like one.

In any case, this article on the use of algae to take advantage of a valuable coal-use by-product, we're certain inadvertently, evokes again the spirit of West Virginia's State Seal: The Miner and the Farmer, together, working for the future. The excerpt concludes with the thought that "Coal farmers" would be "a foreign concept". We think, instead, that it could, and should, become a domestic ideal.