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. 

Comments

[Jimmi]

Guy's.. please read my new comment in the "Zap" post... something very special just happened!!! I appologize for repeating this comment on the latest posts but I really think this is some very important news!!!

Enjoy

[Paul Dietz]

The chemistry here makes a lot of sense to me. Methane is rather strongly bound, so the conventional synthetic methane scheme, in which syngas is made, cooled, purified, then reacted, suffers from heat being produced in the methanation reactor. I recall seeing schemes for recycling this heat, but it would be better to just have it be released in the gasifier itself.

I imagine the issue here was coming up with a catalyst that could work well enough in the nasty environment of the gasifier (ash, sulfur, etc.) without being poisoned or suffering too high a rate of attrition.

[Coal gasification]

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) has been identified as the most efficient and environmentally friendly technology for producing low cost electricity from coal.

[NP7-12]

Nice piece! Has there been any objection the the station since is was devised?

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