Coal-to-Liquids

{{#badges: Climate change |CoalSwarm}}Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) is a process of converting coal to fuels such as diesel. The process involves first building a plant to convert coal to gas and then another plant to covert the gas to a liquid.

Shell is one global oil company that has invested substantially in CTL technology and has developed plants in China, Malaysia and the Netherlands. In July 2008, the Executive Director of Gas and Power for Shell, Linda Cook, told the Australian Financial Review that while the company had proven the technology works, the economic viability of such projects is not guaranteed. "What's not proven is more on the commercial side and whether you can afford to do those two technologies back to back and have it economically attractive," she said.

"You have to build a coal gasification plant and a gas-to-liquids plant, so [it's] very capital intensive. It would work economically in a place where you have low construction cots, where you are relatively close to market, and where you have a lot of low-cost coal reserves. So you can see maybe Australia has some of those ingredients ... On top of being capital intensive, it is also CO₂ intensive and I think in today's environment one has to figure into the development of a coal-to-liquids project a means to offset the CO₂ emissions associated with it," she said.

Carbon dioxide emissions

A study released in October 2008 found that if the United States tried rely on gasoline made from domestic coal as a means of achieving independence from foreign oil, the result would likely be an increase in carbon emissions. The researchers concluded that greenhouse gas emissions could actually almost double if natural gas or domestic coal were to replace foreign oil. Even if all potential means of reducing emissions were used, including any future development of carbon capture and storage technologies, the alternative fuels would not provide any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Coal-to-Liquids and Coal Gasification Projects

Active

• Alaska Natural Resources-to-Liquids plant - Alaska
• American Lignite Energy - North Dakota
• Arckaringa Coal-to-Liquids and Power Project - Australia
• Atlantic Energy Ventures gasification plant (gasification plant; also known as Irontron plant) - Ohio
• Belwood Coal-to-Liquids - Mississippi
• Clean Coal Power Operations Coal-to-Liquids Plant
• Eielson Air Force Base Coal-to-Liquids - Alaska
• Fairbanks Coal-to-Liquids - Alaska
• Freeport Plant - Texas (gasification)
• Lackawanna Coal to Gas - New York (gasification)
• Linc Energy - Australia
• Medicine Bow Plant - Wyoming
• Mingo Project - West Virginia
• Ohio River Clean Fuels - Ohio
• Power Holdings Company plant - Illinois
• Scriba Coal Gasification Plant - New York (gasification)
• Secure Energy Decatur Gasification Plant - Illinois (gasification)
• South Heart Power Project - North Dakota (gasification)

Cancelled, abandoned, on hold

• Benwood Project - West Virginia
• Fayette County Economic Development Project - Illinois
• Gilberton Coal-to-Clean-Fuels and Power Project - Pennsylvania (gasification)
• Gillette Coal-to-Liquids Plant - Wyoming
• Indiana SNG - Indiana (substitute natural gas)
• Malmstrom Air Force Base Coal-to-Liquids - Montana
• NewGas Energy Center - Kentucky (gasification)
• Rentech Energy Midwest Corporation - Illinois
• Roundup Coal-to-Liquids - Montana
• Somerset plant - Massachusetts
• SynFuel Enid Project - Oklahoma
• Waste Management Logan County plant - West Virginia or Pennsylvania

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

• Coal-to-Liquids Coalition
• Coal-to-Liquids in Australia
• Coal-to-Liquids in China
• Greenhouse Gas Limits in 2007 Energy Act
• Baard Energy
• Rentech
• Ron Sega
• U.S. Air Force and Coal

External Articles

• Bruce Nichols, "Fuel Your Car With Coal? Less Likely Now", Reuters, October 17, 2008.