The plant will produce up to 20,000 barrels per day of transportation fuels, electricity, steam, off-gas, slag, chemicals (including sulfur), other fuels and energy products which will be sold into the market.

The start date of the project, originally projected for the spring of 2008, “has slipped to the second quarter of 2009 due to weather concerns,” said Jude Rolfes, senior vice president of engineering, construction and asset management for DKRW Advanced Fuels. The final permitting is also expected to be delayed until winter of 2008.

As for the change in the finished product from diesel to “low-sulfur gasoline," Rolfes said, “The diesel plant was not ready and the gasoline plant was.”

The plant intends to capture CO₂ emissions from the process and send it to northeast Wyoming for use in enhanced oil recovery projects.

The CO₂ will be recovered from the syngas in the plant’s Acid Gas Removal Unit (AGR), which also removes sulfur compounds (H₂S and COS) to a level acceptable to the downstream Syngas Conversion Unit and supplies the H₂S/COS stream to a Sulfur Recovery Unit.

The CO₂ recovered from the AGR is compressed from near atmospheric pressure to 2,100 pounds per square inch gauge (psig) by four-stage compressors in parallel trains. After the second compression stage (at approximately 225 psig), the CO₂ gas is passed through a drying system for removal of residual water to a dew point of -40 degrees Fahrenheit (ºF), reducing the risk of pipeline corrosion and to prevent ice and hydrate formation during winter operation.

The next regulatory hurdle for the project is obtaining an air quality permit form the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) next year.

Resources

• Medicine Bow Fuel & Power, LLC, Coal-to-Liquids Project Industrial Siting Permit Application