Difference between revisions of "Coal-to-Liquids"

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(SW: transgas)
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* [[Atlantic Energy Ventures gasification plant]] (gasification plant; also known as Irontron plant) - Ohio
 
* [[Atlantic Energy Ventures gasification plant]] (gasification plant; also known as Irontron plant) - Ohio
 
* [[Belwood Coal-to-Liquids]] - Mississippi
 
* [[Belwood Coal-to-Liquids]] - Mississippi
 +
* [[Cash Creek Generation]] - Kentucky
 
* [[Clean Coal Power Operations Coal-to-Liquids Plant]]
 
* [[Clean Coal Power Operations Coal-to-Liquids Plant]]
 
* [[Drummond Coal-to-Liquids Plant]] - Illinois
 
* [[Drummond Coal-to-Liquids Plant]] - Illinois
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* [[Fairbanks Coal-to-Liquids]] - Alaska
 
* [[Fairbanks Coal-to-Liquids]] - Alaska
 
* [[Freeport Plant]] - Texas (gasification)
 
* [[Freeport Plant]] - Texas (gasification)
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* [[Fuel Frontiers plant]] - Kentucky
 
* [[Illinois Clean Fuels]] - Illinois
 
* [[Illinois Clean Fuels]] - Illinois
 
* [[Lackawanna Coal to Gas]] - New York (gasification)
 
* [[Lackawanna Coal to Gas]] - New York (gasification)
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* [[Mingo Project]] - West Virginia
 
* [[Mingo Project]] - West Virginia
 
* [[Ohio River Clean Fuels]] - Ohio
 
* [[Ohio River Clean Fuels]] - Ohio
 +
* [[Peabody/Arclight SNG Project]] - Illinois
 
* [[Power Holdings Company plant]] - Illinois
 
* [[Power Holdings Company plant]] - Illinois
 
* [[Scriba Coal Gasification Plant]] - New York (gasification)
 
* [[Scriba Coal Gasification Plant]] - New York (gasification)
 
*[[Secure Energy Decatur Gasification Plant]] - Illinois (gasification)
 
*[[Secure Energy Decatur Gasification Plant]] - Illinois (gasification)
 
* [[South Heart Power Project]] - North Dakota (gasification)
 
* [[South Heart Power Project]] - North Dakota (gasification)
 +
* [[Taylorville Energy Center]] - Illinois
 
* [[TransGas Development Systems]] - West Virginia
 
* [[TransGas Development Systems]] - West Virginia
  
 
===Cancelled, abandoned, on hold===
 
===Cancelled, abandoned, on hold===
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* [[American Clean Coal Fuels]] - Ohio
 
* [[Benwood Project]] - West Virginia
 
* [[Benwood Project]] - West Virginia
 
* [[Chicago Clean Energy]] - Illinois
 
* [[Chicago Clean Energy]] - Illinois

Revision as of 05:25, 1 February 2009

{{#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.[1]

"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.[1]

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.[2]

Coal-to-Liquids and Coal Gasification Projects

Active

Cancelled, abandoned, on hold

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 Paul Garvey, "Counting cost of converting coal", Australian Financial Review, July 22, 2008, page 18.
  2. "Clean Coal for Cars Has a Dirty Side," ScienceNews, October 20, 2008.

Related SourceWatch Articles

External Articles