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Coal-to-Liquids (CTL)
[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
SRI developing process for co-gasification of methane and coal to produce liquid transportation fuels; negligible water consumption, no CO2
December 20, 2011
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| Top: Conventional F-T process. Bottom: SRI process. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers from SRI International (SRI) are developing a methane-and-coal-to-liquids process that consumes negligible amounts of water and does not generate carbon dioxide. Based on data from bench-scale tests, SRI engineers estimate that the capital cost for a full-scale plant using SRI’s process would be less than half that of a conventional coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). FTS produces only a small fraction of the hydrocarbons needed for fuel and requires extensive recycling.
The SRI CTL plant design offers a lower CO2-emitting fuel then conventional diesel; a lifecycle analysis by SRI put conventional diesel at 389 gCO2/mile, conventional F-T coal-to-liquids diesel at 830 gCO2/mile; and the SRI synthetic fuel at 326 gCO2/mile (when using carbon-neutral electricity. If biogas is substituted for conventional natural gas, total GHG emissions can further significantly reduced (190 gCO2/mile).
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Accelergy and Yankuang Group to conduct feasibility study for large-scale hybrid coal-to-liquids plant in China; targeting 68,000 barrels of fuel per day
September 30, 2011
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| Pathways for producing liquid fuels from coal. The Accelergy/Yanjuang plant would combine the indirect (F-T) and direct pathways. Source: EMRE. Click to enlarge. |
Accelergy Corporation (earlier post) is partnering with the Yankuang Group, one of the largest coal companies in China, on a feasibility study for a joint, large-scale, low-carbon, hybrid—i.e., incorporating both direct and indirect liquefaction technologies—coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant. The plant will produce approximately 68,000 barrels of fuel per day; construction of the project is intended to start as soon as feasible.
The facility, located in Erdos in China’s Inner Mongolia Province, will utilize a hybrid configuration of Accelergy’s direct Micro-catalytic Coal Liquefaction (MCL) system (licensed from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company) and Yankuang’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch indirect liquefaction.
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MIT study concludes that absent climate policy, coal-to-liquids could account for around a third of global liquid fuels by 2050
June 09, 2011
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| The top graph depicts CTL in a no policy scenario; the bottom graph, for CTL in a world climate policy scenario. Credit: Chen et al., 2011 Click to enlarge. |
A new assessment of the viability of coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology by researchers from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change (JPSPGC) found that without climate policy, CTL has the potential to account for around a third of global liquid fuels by 2050.
However, the viability of CTL becomes quite limited in regions with climate policy due to the high conversion cost and huge carbon footprint. Although adding carbon capture and storage (CCS) could reduce CO2 emissions, the additional cost from implementing CCS makes CTL less attractive, the report finds.
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BP and Davy select 3 leading EPC contractors for BP/Davy Fischer-Tropsch commercial deployment
May 08, 2011
BP and Davy Process Technology announced collaborations with three EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors to promote the commercialization of the BP/Davy Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Process. The BP/Davy fixed-bed FT process produces diesel, jet fuel (JP8) and naphtha from natural gas, biomass- or coal-derived syngas.
CB&I Lummus UK Limited, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc and The Shaw Group signed agreements to work individually with BP/Davy to seek deployment opportunities for the proven BP/Davy Fischer Tropsch (FT) process that transforms syngas into liquid hydrocarbons. The EPC contractors were chosen after conducting a competitive bidding and ranking process.
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Linc Energy taking stake in aboveground gasification company; potential CTL introduction in US
March 11, 2011
Australia’s Linc Energy, a developer of underground coal gasification and synthetic fuels projects, has signed an exclusive agreement with PowerHouse Energy Inc, a provider of onsite energy systems that uses fossil and renewable fuels to generate electricity and synthetic gas via the Pyromex ultra high temperature above-ground gasification (UHTG) process.
Linc says the Pyromex process produces good quality syngas with almost no CO2 gas emissions, and without the need for the consumption of high volumes of water or power. Additionally, the process does not utilize oxygen injection, which means there is no need for a large air separation unit (oxygen production facility). The Pyromex gasification process also has a small physical footprint ensuring very fast construction time-frames and lower construction costs than traditional above ground gasifiers.
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Lifecycle analysis finds Fischer-Tropsch diesel from coal and biomass with CCS can use less fossil energy than petroleum diesel, with GHG close to or below zero
March 03, 2011
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| WTW total energy and fossil energy use. Credit: ACS, Xie et al. Click to enlarge. |
A new study by Michael Wang and Jeongwoo Han at Argonne National Laboratory and Xiaomin Xie at Shanghai Jiao Tong University assesses the effects of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and cellulosic biomass and coal co-feeding in Fischer-Tropsch (FT) plants on energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of FT diesel (FTD). Their paper appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The team expanded and used Argonne’s GREET (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation) model to demonstrate the influence of the coproduct credit methods on FTD life-cycle analysis (LCA) results, using three allocation methods based on the energy value; the market revenue of different products; and a hybrid method.
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RAND study concludes use of alternative fuels by US military would convey no direct military benefit; recommends energy efficiency instead
January 25, 2011
If the US military increases its use of alternative jet and naval fuels that can be produced from coal or various renewable resources, including seed oils, waste oils and algae, there will be no direct benefit to the nation’s armed forces, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Any benefits from investment in alternative fuels by the US Department of Defense will accrue to the nation as a whole rather than to mission-specific needs of the military, the researchers concluded.
The US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have all expressed a clear interest in being early users of alternative fuels in their tactical weapon systems, the RAND authors note in their report, “Alternative Fuels for Military Applications”. However, RAND researchers James Bartis and Lawrence Van Bibbe concluded it makes more sense for the military to direct its efforts toward using energy more efficiently. Providing war fighters with more energy-efficient equipment such as aircraft or combat vehicles improves operational effectiveness, saves money and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, they said.
