Coal-to-Liquids Co-Generation Plant with Carbon Capture and Sequestration Slated for Montana
03 October 2006
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and executives from Arch Minerals, BMC and DKRW Advanced Fuels announced an initial agreement to construct a coal-to-liquids plant in Montana. The facility will be located on the site of the Bull Mountain Coal (BMC) mine outside of Roundup, MT.
The plant will gasify coal, converting a portion of the resulting syngas to 22,000 barrels per day of Fischer Tropsch diesel, with the rest going to generate 300 MW of power using IGCC (Integrated Gas Combined Cycle) technology.
The plant will be outfitted with carbon capture technology. Project plans are to sequester the carbon dioxide in certain Montana oil fields. Furthermore, the gasifier at the facility will remove virtually all mercury, sulfur and particulate matter from the coal.
Arch Minerals, BMC and DKRW Advanced Fuels are the equity partners in the project, and are the lead on the Medicine Bow CTL project in Wyoming. DKRW will use GE’s coal gasification technology and Rentech’s Fischer-Tropsch technology in both the Medicine Bow and Bull Mountain plants. (Earlier post.)
"virtually all"
that smacks of press release. Nearly all polution controls everywhere remove "virtually all". The nuance is, just an itty-bitty bit causes problems. So, just how much is "virtually all"?
Posted by: stomv | 03 October 2006 at 10:19 AM
At least some of the CO2 is captured. Should make those concerned with energy security happy. Does 22000 bpd constitute a pilot project or a commercial sized facility?
Posted by: Neil | 03 October 2006 at 10:52 AM
So, just how much is "virtually all"?
Since you don't want ash or sulfur to kill your FT catalyst, or ash to clog the combustion turbine, it's probably not just marketingspeak.
Posted by: Paul Dietz | 03 October 2006 at 12:42 PM
If the factory takes oxygen, burns coal with it, turns it into CO2 and puts it under the ground, won't that cause an oxygen shortage? If you left the C02 in the atmosphere the trees would breath it and turn it back into oxygen.
Posted by: Jimmy Dean | 03 October 2006 at 12:44 PM
Jimmy Dean,
While sequestering CO2 does take some of the, O2 (in CO2) out of the atmosphere, the amounts are relatively small. Even if we were to burn all the carbon based fuel on the planet (fossil fuel and green plants) the effect would only be felt at high altitudes, and by jets.
Posted by: allen Z | 03 October 2006 at 12:59 PM
If the factory takes oxygen, burns coal with it, turns it into CO2 and puts it under the ground, won't that cause an oxygen shortage?
Obviously not. We run out of coal long before we use any significant amount of oxygen. It's a serious challenge to even measure the change in the global atmosphere's O2 concentration.
If you left the CO2 in the atmosphere the trees would breath it and turn it back into oxygen.
Only if you cut down the trees and buried the wood so it wouldn't rot or be burned. In steady state, a forest produces zero net oxygen (actually, a very small amount, from organic matter that survives to be buried in natural sediments, but this is a very small rate.)
Posted by: Paul Dietz | 03 October 2006 at 01:03 PM
Remember even if 'most' of the in-process CO2 is sequestered there is more CO2 when the synfuel is used. The tailpipe carbon was underground and gets added to the atmosphere.
There appears to be no compliance mechanism for faking the CO2 capture percentage. Intead CTL producers will be praised for 'solving' the peak oil problem.
Posted by: Aussie | 03 October 2006 at 02:34 PM
Sequestered is commonly spoken by CTL folks as a green word and usually has little creedence in application.
Montana is one of the most seismically active US states. Since 1925, the State has experienced five shocks that reached intensity VIII or greater (Modified Mercalli Scale).
Posted by: fyi CO2 | 03 October 2006 at 02:53 PM
Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Hush your mouth.
:-) ROTFL.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz | 03 October 2006 at 03:35 PM
CTL via F-T if you must, but please save some H2 leftover for my coming Honda FCX. The Honda's futuristic FCV looks like a sexy must-have-next emotional purchase...it looks as sexy (and expensive) as a millionaire's next mistress!...on a NYC model's starvation diet (super-efficient H2 diet)!
Posted by: Roger Pham | 03 October 2006 at 08:34 PM
The FCX styling is very nice. The home refueler is a good idea too. Those folks at Honda keep thinking and we might just have a few solutions.
Posted by: SJC | 03 October 2006 at 10:52 PM
Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Hush your mouth.
:-) ROTFL.
Hey that is what they teach in public schools, that trees create oxygen.
Posted by: Jimmy Dean | 04 October 2006 at 08:17 AM
Hey that is what they teach in public schools, that trees create oxygen.
Reminds me of a sign on a lawn I saw at Cornell a few decades ago, saying something like 'this lawn produces [a specified amount] of oxygen each year'. What they forgot to mention was that all that oxygen was then consumed when the grass clippings and dead roots rotted or were eaten, and that even more O2 was consumed by the mowers used to maintain the lawn.
Posted by: Paul Dietz | 04 October 2006 at 08:43 AM