US Senators Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) have re-introduced a piece of legislation that would help create the infrastructure needed for large-scale production of Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) fuel in the US. The proposed “Coal-To-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007” is based on the bill first introduced by Senators Bunning... Read more →

The Indian government’s Investment Commission has concluded that Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) is feasible in India and recommended to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, that it should become an integral part of India’s strategy for oil security. The Prime Minister has decided to set up an Inter-Ministerial Group within the Planning... Read more →

Interfax. Universe Gas and Oil Co. (UGO), a Japanese energy development company, plans to invest RMB 400 million ($51.28 million) in a coal-to-liquids project in northeastern China’s Jilin Province. Zhang Shuang, an official with the company, said the plant will have an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes (about 3.7 million... Read more →

Albemarle’s estimate of the growth of the GTL catalyst market. Click to enlarge. Albemarle Corporation, a leading global catalyst and specialty chemical maker, has created a new division focusing on alternative fuel technologies. To be led by Ray Hurley, formerly vice president for catalysts, the new division will focus on... Read more →

Xinhua. China will invest more than one trillion yuan (US$128 billion) to develop alternative coal-based synthetic fuels to ease the country’s dependence on oil imports, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The project aims to produce 30 million tons of liquefied coal and 20 million tons of... Read more →

Rentech uses a proprietary iron catalyst well-suited to CTL projects. Click to enlarge. The Mingo County Redevelopment Authority (MCRA), Williamson, West Virginia and Rentech, Inc. have entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) for the development of a Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) fuels plant to be located in Mingo County... Read more →

Global supply of liquid hydrocarbons from all fossil resources and associated costs in dollars (top) and GHG emissions (bottom). Click to enlarge. The increasing use of substitute fossil-based liquid hydrocarbons—either unconventional crude oils or synthetic liquid fuels (synfuels)—will dramatically increase global greenhouse gas emissions unless mitigating steps are taken, according... Read more →

The transportation sector will continue to be the largest and most rapidly growing consumer of energy. Click to enlarge. The reference case in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) early release edition of Annual Energy Outlook 2007 (AEO2007) projects more biofuels (both ethanol and biodiesel) consumption, growth in coal-to-liquids (CTL) capacity... Read more →

New Zealand’s largest coal mining company, government-owned Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd., will survey potential land-based carbon dioxide storage sites in Otago and Southland as part of a project exploring carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Solid Energy is investigating a NZ$1 billion (US$685 million) Coal-to-Liquids project of which CCS... Read more →

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... Read more →

The proposed Cook Inlet Coal-to-Liquids Project. Click to enlarge. The Alaska Commerce Journal reports that Chinese Petroleum Corp. (CPC) of Taiwan will kick in $1.5 million to co-fund a preliminary feasibility study for an 80,000-barrel-per-day coal-to-liquids fuels plant near the Beluga coal fields on the west side of Cook Inlet,... Read more →

Energy Investments Australia Pty Ltd (Shell) and Anglo American plc have signed a joint development agreement (JDA) for the two companies to further advance the Monash Energy clean coal-to-liquids project—including carbon capture and sequestration—in the state of Victoria, Australia. (Earlier post.) This agreement is the first under a clean coal... Read more →

Overview of the Monash Energy Project. Click to enlarge. The Monash Energy Project in Australia—which initially envisages an integrated Coal-to-Liquids operation that includes a brown coal coalmine, drying and gasification plant, carbon dioxide capture and storage and a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant with associated power generation (earlier post)—is moving forward. In... Read more →

Syntroleum announced the completion of the production of 100,000 gallons of Fischer-Tropsch aviation fuel for the military at the company’s 70-barrel-per-day Catoosa Demonstration Facility (CDF)—and with it, the cessation of operation of the facility. In addition, Syntroleum has suspended catalyst activity testing at its 2-barrel-per-day pilot plant, saying that its... Read more →

Arch Coal, the US’s second-largest coal producer, has acquired a 25% equity interest in DKRW Advanced Fuels, LLC. In exchange, Arch has agreed to extend its existing option agreement with DKRW Advanced Fuels, to work with DKRW Advanced Fuels to secure coal reserves for two additional coal-to-liquids (CTL) projects outside... Read more →

A Texas A&M University history professor and Syntroleum Corporation, owner of a compact Fischer-Tropsch fuels technology, are posting nearly a quarter of a million pages of coal gasification research conducted from the 1920s through 1980s on the Internet. Professor Anthony Stranges, who holds degrees in chemistry and a doctorate in... Read more →

The Morning Journal reports that Baard Energy, a Vancouver, Washington-based energy company that is building ethanol plants in Ohio and Nebraska, may soon announce plans for a $4-billion coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in Wellsville, Ohio. Wellsville is south of Youngstown, Ohio and west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Neither the company nor county... Read more →

DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC (DKRW), headquartered in Houston, Texas and SNC-Lavalin GDS, Inc. of Houston and SNC-Lavalin Constructors Inc. of Bothell, Washington, wholly-owned subsidiaries of SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC), have formed an alliance to develop, design and construct a number of coal-to-liquid fuel projects each valued in excess of $1 billion.... Read more →

Indiana’s growth in biofuel production. Click to enlarge. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels introduced today the state’s “Hoosier Homegrown” Energy Plan which focuses on the substitution of Indiana coal and biomass for current coal, natural gas and petroleum imports for use in power generation and transportation. The governor also signed Executive... Read more →

US Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduced the “American-Made Energy Trust Fund” bill ( H.R. 5890). The bill’s provisions would increase the tax credits for cellulosic biomass ethanol, extend tax incentives for solar and fuel cell property, promote coal-to-liquid fuel activities, and open up ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil... Read more →

The Chinese government has issued a circular on regulating the coal-chemical industry, urging local governments to tighten control of new projects. The government will not approve coal liquefaction (Coal-to-Liquids) projects with an annual production capacity of less than three million tons; coal to methanol or dimethyl ether (DME) projects of... Read more →

Peabody Energy and Rentech, Inc. have entered into a joint development agreement to evaluate sites in the Midwest and Montana for coal-to-liquids projects that would transform coal into diesel and jet fuel. Projects would be sited where Peabody has large reserves and would be designed using Rentech’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-liquids... Read more →

The Indian press reports that Sasol may build a major Coal-to-Liquids plant in India. India had to import 68% of the 2.485 million barrels of oil per day it consumed in 2005, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2006. In June, Sasol signed two agreements with Chinese... Read more →

Baruun Naran is within trucking distance of major steel and power generation centers in northern China. Click to enlarge. QGX Ltd., a Canadian company that has been exploring for mineral deposits in Mongolia since 1994, has engaged Nexant, Inc., a global energy consulting company with core competencies in coal gasification,... Read more →

Syntroleum has signed a contract to deliver 100,000 gallons of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthetic fuel to the US Department of Defense (DoD) for evaluation as part of a larger program aimed at long-term prospects for the domestic manufacture and supply of synthetic aviation fuels from FT plants. The government is currently... Read more →

CTL development in China. Sasol today signed a co-operation agreement with a consortium led by China’s Shenhua Corporation for proceeding with the second stage of feasibility studies to determine the viability of an 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) potential coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in the Shaanxi Province, about 650 kilometres west... Read more →

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and staff will be testing a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup powered by a Cummins diesel engine fueled by neat synthetic diesel produced by Syntroleum’s Gas-to-Liquids Fischer-Tropsch process. The Dodge Ram pickup was donated by Dodge dealerships across Montana. Syntroleum is providing the Fischer-Tropsch synthetic diesel, which... Read more →

Shenhua’s first direct coal liquefaction train is due to come online in 2007. China Daily. Shenhua Group, China’s biggest coal producer (and the third-largest in the world) is planning eight Coal-to-Liquids projects that will produce some 30 million tons per year (about 600,000 barrels per day) of synthetic oil and... Read more →

NEDO approach to liquefaction. Click to enlarge. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Japan’s The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will provide coal liquefaction technologies to China as part of a broader Japanese effort to promote coal use in Asia outside Japan to alleviate the tightness in global... Read more →

Syntroleum Corporation and Sustec Industries have entered into a joint project development agreement to develop a nominal 3,000 barrel per day (bpd) Syntroleum Fischer-Tropsch (FT) and Synfining unit as the first phase of a possible 20,000 bpd project at Sustec’s Schwarze Pumpe industrial facility at Spreetal, Germany. The 3,000 bpd... Read more →

In a speech today in Gliwice, Poland to a conference on the future EU energy mix, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said that while the EU’s newly abundant coal reserves could offer security of supply, coal use must be accompanied by a reduced environmental impact, which means lower emissions. The... Read more →

Anglo American, one of the world’s largest mining groups, and Shell Gas & Power International have formed an Alliance in the field of coal conversion. The two companies will take selective equity positions in emerging coal-conversion projects, combining Anglo American’s coal reserves and mining capabilities with Shell’s gasification and conversion... Read more →

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell used the opening of the first publicly-available E85 fueling station in Pennsylvania to announce a new initiative to produce 900 million gallons of bio- or synthetic fuels into the commonwealth’s gasoline and diesel supplies over the next decade. The PennSecurity Fuels Initiative targets the use of... Read more →

Australia’s Linc Energy, which is partnering with Syntroleum Corporation on a coal-to-liquids (CTL) project in Australia that integrates Linc’s underground coal gasification (UCG) technology with Syntroleum’s air-based Fischer-Tropsch technology (earlier post), has closed its initial public offer (IPO) oversubscribed, raising $A22 million ($US16.97 million). Part of the funds will be... Read more →

As a follow-on to last week’s hearing on Coal Liquefaction (earlier post), the US Senate Committee on Energy and natural Resources convened a hearing Monday regarding the economic and environmental issues associated with coal gasification technology. Testifying at the hearing were: David Garman, Under Secretary of Energy for Energy, Science... Read more →

BRI Process schematic. Click to enlarge. BRI Energy, a company that ferments gasified waste, biomass or hydrocarbons such as coal into ethanol (earlier post) announced tentative plans to build one or two gasification-fermentation facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. BRI hopes for federal loan guarantees for part of the funding of... Read more →

Oxford Catalysts Group, which has developed new catalysts that, among other things, transform waste methane into hydrogen for use with fuel cells or into Fischer-Tropsch liquid fuels (earlier post), has gone public on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in an IPO that raised £15 million (US$18.8 million)—£14... Read more →

In April 2005, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman asked the National Coal Council (NCC) to conduct a study and prepare a report identifying the challenges and opportunities for more fully exploiting US domestic coal resources. The first volume of the report is now in, and proposes an eight-point aggressive expansion of... Read more →

The US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a full-committee hearing on the economic and environmental issues associated with coal-to-liquids processing, and on the implementation of the provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 addressing CTL. Testifying at the hearing were Dr. Clarence Miller, of the Department... Read more →

Depiction of the HydroMax process. Diversified Energy Corporation and Alchemix Corporation are working together to accelerate the development of Alchemix’ HydroMax process, a distinct approach to gasification for hydrogen production or the production of a syngas for Fischer-Tropsch conversion into liquid fuels. Although HydroMax can process a variety of hydrocarbon... Read more →

Researchers at Rutgers and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a tandem catalytic system that creates a more efficient Fischer-Tropsch process for the conversion of coal and other carbon feedstocks to synthetic fuels. The two-step chemical process, developed by chemists at Rutgers University in New Jersey... Read more →

Rentech, Inc., the developer of a Fischer-Tropsch process for the production of synthetic fuels, has priced concurrent public offerings of 16 million shares of common stock and $50-million (aggregate) in convertible senior notes due 2013. The company expects net proceeds from the offerings to be approximately $96.4 million—$111.2 million if... Read more →

US Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) last week introduced legislation designed to further promote the use of biofuels and alternative fuel technologies to decrease US dependence on oil. The American Fuels Act of 2006 (S. 2446) takes a multi-step approach that includes mandated levels of production and... Read more →

A flow-sheet for 100,000 gallons per day of CO2-free synfuel. Click to enlarge. A team from General Atomics is proposing the use of hydrogen provided from non-fossil sources (solar, wind or nuclear) and CO2 captured from coal-fired power plants or from the air to produce enough Fischer-Tropsch synthetics to meet... Read more →

DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Royal Dutch Shell, Sasol Chevron and the Volkswagen group are launching an association—The Alliance for Synthetic Fuels in Europe (ASFE)—to promote synthetic fuels in Europe and to support research, demonstration projects, and public-private cooperation in the area. ASFE is focusing on synthetic fuels made with the Fischer-Tropsch (FT)... Read more →

Cash Minerals, an emerging energy company with a base of coal and uranium assets in the Yukon, is evaluating different coal sites in the Yukon and China for their suitability to support Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) projects using the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process. This initiative follows high level meetings in South Africa and... Read more →

Ohio Governor Bob Taft has announced a number of initiatives to utilize state resources as energy sources. The most immediate are plans to expand the state’s production and use of ethanol and biodiesel. Taft made the announcement last week during a visit to Greater Ohio Ethanol in Lima, Ohio, during... Read more →

Schematic of GE gasifier in an IGCC application. DKRW will use GE’s coal gasification technology in its proposed Medicine Bow, Wyoming coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant. The first phase of the Medicine Bow project is designed to produce approximately 11,000 bpd of Fischer-Tropsch diesel and other fuels from Carbon Basin coal. In... Read more →

Sasol, the South African energy company and leader in coal-to-liquids (CTL) and gas-to-liquids (GTL) production, is investing R200 million (US$32 million) in the construction of an innovative Fischer-Tropsch design reactor at its research and development facilities in Sasolburg, South Africa. The reactor will support the engineering design of the next... Read more →

Europe and China will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this week on clean-coal technology during the 6th EU–China Energy Conference. The MoU will encourage the development of technology allowing the capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide emitted from coal-fired power stations. China is also keen to exploit coal... Read more →