The Energy Blog

Penn State: Black liquor to DME as Alternative Fuel

Penn State press release:

Adding a little coal and processing the papermaking industry's black liquor waste into synthesis gas is a better choice than burning it for heat, improves the carbon footprint of coal-to-liquid processes, and can produce a fuel versatile enough to run a cooking stove or a truck, according to a team of Penn state engineers.

"Black liquor is routinely burned in a recovery boiler," said Andre Boehman, professor of fuel science. "But it has more energy value as a synthesis gas, which is then used to create other fuels."

Black liquor is a combination of lignin from the wood, the chemicals used in papermaking and water. Normally, after burning, mills extract the inorganic chemicals and recycle them. Synthesis gas or syngas can be made from a variety of organic wastes and is a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The final product looked at by the researchers is DME or dimethyl ether.  . . .

DME is building new markets in both heat producing fuel applications and transportation. In Japan and China, some demonstration diesel trucks and buses already run on DME. Volvo has a third-generation experimental truck that runs on DME, and other companies are also testing vehicles.

(Penn State) students looked at the efficiency of using black liquor as the feedstock for manufacturing synthesis gas and then DME, and realized that they needed the economy of scale for the process to be really efficient and economical. The capacity of paper mills for fuel production could be expanded by co-processing coal with the black liquor.

CTL Legislation Proposed

Sens. Bunning and Obama push CTL
ARLINGTON, Va., March 8 (UPI)

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., called for increased invesment in coal-to-liquid technology at the U.S. Energy Forum in Arlington, Va. "Scale of investment, uncertainty in oil prices and a complicated environmental permitting process have prevented the industry from taking root in the United States," Bunning said.

Bunning and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., co-introduced a bill in January called the Coal-To-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007. It would allow the Department of Energy to provide loan guarantees for construction, planning and permitting of CTL plants. It would also expand investment tax credits and provide the Department of Defense funding and authorization to purchase, test, and integrate these fuels into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and military fuel supplies. ...

The synfuel made from coal is low in sulfur, nitrous-oxide and partical emissions. Another benefit to the military is that the lower burning tempture reduces the heat signature of jet engines.

The most important reason to invest in CTL, Bunning said, is that its "a secure domestic fuel source and the American economy and military are too reliant on foreign fuel sources."

I'm for the loan guantees, but we do not need the subsidies provided by investment tax credits. There should also be a clause that requires the CO2 produced by the CTL process be sequestered.

Great Point's Coal Gasification Process

Cheaper Natural Gas from Coal

Peter Fairley, MIT Technology Review, Jan. 30, 2007

Great Point says that its catalytic process could put coal back in your basement.

In the second half of the 20th century, oil- and natural gas-burning furnaces drove coal out of the home-heating business across North America. But if Great Point Energy--a Boston-area startup with a low-cost process for converting coal into pipeline-grade natural gas--has its way, coal may start keeping us toasty again before long. ...

The process [takes place] in one single, efficient reactor by moving the catalysts into the gasifier itself. The key is a proprietary, recyclable catalyst developed in house with help from gasification and catalysis experts at Southern Illinois University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Tennessee, among others. The catalyst  lowers the amount of heat required to gasify coal and simultaneously transforms the gasified coal into methane. In fact, the heat released in the syngas-to-methane step is sufficient to sustain the gasification, eliminating the need to fire up the reactions with purified oxygen. "It's perfectly heat balanced," says CEO Andrew Perlman. ...

This story is an update on Great Point from my previous more detailed post of April, 26,2006, and familiarizes some of my newer readers with the technology. This technology in many ways is similar to the technology described in yesterdays post about USSEC to turn soybeans into biofuel, but from a much more credible source. 

Medicine Bow CTL Facility Agrees to Sell its Diesel to Sinclair Oil Corporation

Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC, a subsidiary of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC, announced that it has entered into a long-term contract to sell 100% of the ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel from its planned coal-to-liquids (CTL) facility in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, to Sinclair Oil Corporation, which will market the fuel in the Rocky Mountain region.

The planned Medicine Bow project (see previous post), which includes a coal mine and adjacent CTL facility, will use an indirect liquefaction process to convert coal resources into refined products that meet critical energy needs while reducing the environmental concerns associated with coal combustion.

The CTL facility will utilize General Electric Company's coal gasification technology to produce synthetic gas. The synthetic gas will be cleaned so that substantially all of the sulfur and carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed. This process significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts associated with the traditional use of coal as a boiler fuel. The syngas will then be liquefied using Fischer- Tropsch technology licensed from Rentech, Inc. (Amex: RTK - News). A further refining process will produce the ultra-low-sulfur diesel product that is expected to exceed current environmental emission standards in the region.

Rentech May Benefit From Military Use of FT Fuels

Rentech, Inc. (Amex: RTK - News) has commented on the landmark test flight (previous post) by the Air Force of a B-52 utilizing Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuels at Edwards Air Force Base. The Company believes this is an important step in the development of the coal-to-liquids (CTL) clean synthetic fuels industry for the United States and the U.S. military to ensure both energy security and the security of the country's borders. Rentech believes it is uniquely positioned to be the first domestic CTL technology provider with the ability to deliver commercial quantities of these synthetic fuels made from coal.

The U.S. Military has affirmed that it wants to implement the use of FT fuels made from coal mined in the U.S. "This is an extremely important moment," said Michael A. Aimone, the Air Force Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics in articles in the Los Angeles Times and San Jose, Mercury News. "Our goal is by 2025 to have 70 percent of our aviation fuel coming from coal-based sources."

FT Jet Fuel to be Tested in B-52

Syntroleum (Nasdaq:SYNM), a leader in Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology, announced that its ultra-clean jet fuel will be tested in a landmark B-52 flight demo on the morning of September 19, 2006 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. This event signifies the first time that FT jet fuel has been tested in a B-52 flight demo.

The FT aviation fuel will be blended with traditional JP-8 jet fuel for the flight test. Syntroleum's FT jet fuel stems from more than five years of considerable research and development efforts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), focused on producing a high performance alternative fuel for military applications. The flight test is part of the DOD's Assured Fuels Initiative, an effort to develop secure domestic sources for the military's energy needs.

"Having access to adequate supplies of jet fuel is a national security issue, and with an assured source, price fluctuations are reduced which provides stable planning and budgeting," said Bill Harrison, a fuels expert with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Rentech Comments on Recent Agreement Between DKRW and Arch Coal

Rentech, Inc. (Amex: RTK - News) has commented on its agreement between its technology licensee DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC, Inc. ("DRKW-AF"), and St. Louis-based Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI - News), one of the largest coal producers in the United States, under which Arch acquired a 25 percent stake in DKRW-AF. Arch announced that it has agreed to invest $25 million in DRKW-AF, and it has entered into a new agreement whereby Arch and DKRW-AF will explore potential reserves and project opportunities in two other coal basins. DRKW-AF is developing an initial 10,000 barrel per day Wyoming coal-to-liquids (CTL) project that will utilize Rentech's patented and proprietary synthetic fuels process.

"We believe that this agreement reflects the growing recognition by leading coal companies such as Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal of the unique role that our technology can play in developing a cost-effective alternative source of energy," said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, president and CEO of Rentech. "It creates the potential for the expansion of DKRW's coal-to-liquids development with a significant partner who owns large coal reserves. These projects, combined with Rentech's ongoing commercialization efforts continue to demonstrate that CTL technology and ultra clean synthetic fuels will be significant contributors to the United States' efforts regarding energy security and independence."

Rentech, Inc., utilizes its patented and proprietary Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquids/coal-to-liquids process for conversion of synthesis gas made from natural gas, coal and other solid or liquid carbon-bearing materials into clean burning, ultra-low-sulfur and ultra-low-aromatic synthetic fuels.

Medicine Bow Coal-to-Liquids Project Moves Ahead

The United States first private coal-to-liquids project moved one step further ahead with the announcement on August 14 by Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC (MBF&P), a wholly owned subsidiary of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC (DKRW), SNC-Lavalin GDS Inc., and SNC-Lavalin Constructors Inc. that they have formed an alliance to develop, design and construct a number of coal-to-liquids fuel projects that are valued in excess of a billion dollars.

MBF&P has awarded SNC-Lavalin GDS Inc. and SNC-Lavalin Constructors a contract to execute the feasibility study and to be its engineer and EPC contractor for the future FEED and turnkey portions of the Medicine Bow, Wyoming coal-to-liquids facility project commencing in the 4th Quarter 2006.

This selection now enables us to move forward with the design and permitting of the facility said Robert Kelly, Executive Officer of DKRW and MBF&P. DKRW had previously announced that construction was to begin in 2006, with initial operations to begin in the 2008-2010 timeframe.

New Catalysts for Fischer Tropsch

Professor Alan Goldman and his Rutgers team in collaboration with researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a breakthrough technology that employs a pair of catalytic chemical reactions in the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process to more efficiently convert carbon sources, such as coal to diesel fuel and other synthetic petroleum substitutes.

"With our new catalysts, one can generate productive, clean burning fuels with Fischer-Tropsch, economically and at unsurpassed levels of efficiency" said Goldman, a professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers. Goldman further explained that the breakthrough technology employs a pair of catalytic chemical reactions that operate in tandem. This combination of catalysts revamps the FT process for generating synthetic petroleum substitutes, invented in 1920 but never developed to the point of becoming commercially viable for coal conversion.

Coal is converted to petroleum like liquids in a coal to liquids (CTL) process which consists of two major steps: 1) gasification to produce a synthesis gas and 2) conversion of the gas to a liquid syncrude by synthesis over a catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch process. The FT process requires a feed stream consisting largely of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The feed gas to the FT step is produced in a gasifier by heating the gas to a temperatures greater than than 700^oC.  By carefully controlling the oxygen content the hydrocarbons in the feedstock are broken down to carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The Fischer-Tropsch process converts the feed gas into liquid organic compounds, carbon dioxide and water.  The conversion takes place in the presence of a catalyst, usually iron or cobalt.  The temperature, pressure and catalyst determine whether a light or heavy syncrude is produced.

IGCC, Conventional Coal Power Plants Debated

A recent article in the New York Times discussed the plans of electric power generators to build either integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants or more conventional pulverized coal power plants.  The issue centers around the ability of IGCC power plants to be easily converted to capture the carbon dioxide for sequestration vs the lower cost to build the more conventional plants.

A relatively small group headed by American Electric Power, the nation's largest electric utility, are planning to build IGCC power plants, while most of the industry including Peabody energy, the largest private coal producer who are not comfortable with the technology or the costs of IGCC.  The IGCC plants costs 15 to 20% more to build but would be far less expensive to retrofit for carbon capture if limits are placed on global warming emissions. About a dozen of the 140 planned coal-fired power plants in the U.S. expect to use the newer technology.

Both technologies can reduce criteria emissions to below standards, the question is whether and, if so, when will controls be placed on global warming gases.