Posted on 12/12/2008 11:48:36 AM PST by Red Badger
TransGas Development Systems LLC (TGDS) plans to build a $3B coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in Mingo County, West Virginia, according to company announcement made during the West Virginia Energy Summit. Projected to be operational by 2013, the plant will be built in Mingo County’s new energy park near Gilbert. TGDS estimates the facility will use up to 3 million tons of locally mined coal a year to produce more than 6.5 million barrels of gasoline.
TGDS has signed a licensing agreement with Uhde Corporation of America for two 1,000 MWth PRENFLO (PRessurized ENtrained FLOw) gasifiers in the Direct Quench version (PDQ). The PRENFLO process, which operates at pressures of 40 bar and higher, is a further development of the Koppers-Totzek process developed in the 1940s, which operates at atmospheric pressure.
The PDQ version of the process is an optimized design of the basic PRENFLO process for chemical applications in which hydrogen-rich syngases are required. PDQ combines the dry feed system, multiple burners and membrane wall of the base PRENFLO system with a proprietary water quench system which saturates the raw syngas with water for subsequent gas treatment. The PDQ process also removes the requirement for capital-intensive systems such as the waste heat boiler system, the dry fly ash removal system and the quench gas compressor.
In the process, feedstock is prepared into a feed dust—about 80% of the dust is smaller than 0.1 mm and has a water content of approximately 1-2 wt% for hard coals and approximately 8-10 wt.% in the case of lignite. The feed dust is gasified in the PRENFLO gasifier using oxygen and steam as the agent. The gasification temperature is higher than the ash melting temperature, allowing the coal ash to be removed as slag.
The raw syngas, containing mainly CO and H2, is quenched with water and then cleaned in a scrubber. The filter cake from the slurry filtration system is recycled to the gasifier.
The PRENFLO technology handles all types of coal as well as petroleum coke, char and biomass. The gasification process produces economically valuable by-products such as slag and fly ash used in construction.
The syngas can be used in a number of applications. For synthetic gasoline production, Uhde uses ExxonMobil’s Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG) catalytic process. (Earlier post.) Methanol is produced from the syngas, and then converted to gasoline. The conversion of methanol to hydrocarbons and water is virtually complete, Uhde says, and essentially stoichiometric in the process.
The reaction is exothermic with the reaction heat managed by splitting the process into two parts. In the first, the methanol is converted to an equilibrium mixture of methanol, DME (dimethyl ether) and water. In the second part, the equilibrium mixture is mixed with recycle gas and passed over a shape-selective catalyst to form hydrocarbons and water.
ExxonMobil and Uhde have been working together on MTG since the 1980s. In 2006, Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Co. Ltd (JAM) awarded Uhde a contract to license and supply basic engineering, equipment and services for an MTG plant based on ExxonMobil’s fixed bed technology. Part of a demonstration project, the plant has a capacity of 2,600 barrels per day.
Separately, in July 2008, CONSOL Energy announced a joint venture—Northern Appalachia Fuel LLC (NAF)—in Marshall County to construct a CTL plant. NAF is currently negotiating with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering to license the MTG technology.
The joint venture formed by CONSOL to develop the plant will design a carbon-capture system in which waste carbon emissions from the plant will be sequestered in a deep saline aquifer. (Earlier post.)
Resources
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PRENFLO Gasification
Flow diagram of the PRENFLO gasification process with direct quench (PDQ) to be used in the TransGas plant.
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Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me.....
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
Coal to liquids KnOcK!..........
Flint Hills has decided to not invest now in needed upgrades to its Fairbanks refinery. The Alaska Railroad is considering buying the plant.
Speaking of coal, has anybody seen those “Clean Coal” TV ads where the message is there is no such thing as clean coal and directs to a website?
Coal to Liquids has never come close to profitability and need government subsidies to survive.
Wasn’t there an eruption of political corruption in Mingo County a few years ago?
Political corruption in Mingo County? I would not know, White Eyes.............
It’s a hell of a lot closer and efficient than ethanol that’s getting a $0.51 PER GALLON SUBSIDY!......
Au contraire mi Amigo (a little frogmex lingo there)
Check this out....
http://www.clean-energy.us/success/eastman.htm
Read: Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence (Hardcover)by Robert Bryce. He details how every time that CTL seemed in reach, it would fail. As energy prices went up, it’s profitability did not go up since energy was such a major input.
What does that mean for Alaska? My First Wife's brother lives in Fairbanks and is mostly retired after many years trucking to Prudoe Bay and the oil fields. He went up to haul pipe for the line in the 70s...
Not surprising. Right now gas can be barged up from the L48 and sold cheaper than Flint Hills gas. DOn’t know when tht will happen, but I suspect sooner rather than later.
Ironic, eh?
Flint Hills has been reporting losses for a year. Still continues, although it is not certain whether the Fairbanks refinery is still losing money. If the refinery closes, Eielson AFB would lose its jet fuel, and most houses would lose their heating oil. Also the Fairbanks Int Airport would lose its 15-25 airfreight refuels a day. Some gasoline is also produced.
Gasoline continues to be about a dollar higher a gallon than Outside and would not get cheaper.
If the State buys the refinery, which provides 45% of the ARR freight income, it would operate at the same loss, I assume. I do not favor State ownership of any businesses since if the businesses fail the State will eat the loss and things are going to get tight anyway in the years ahead. It’s a bailout.
How many years has Sasol been doing it?
Hint, it can be measured in decades, not just years.
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