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Coal States Pouring Millions Into Clean Coal Research

Published: June 26, 2017 |

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Coal states are hoping to create new ways to turn carbon into money-making enterprises after renewables and natural gas have taken a bite out of their market share and the world is moving to reduce its dependence on coal.

State governments where coal is a major part of the economy are pouring millions into clean coal research.  Industry is looking for ways to not only capture carbon produced by burning coal, but find ways to put the emissions to work and make products out of carbon.

“We’re looking at CO2 as a challenge, but also an opportunity,” Mike Holmes, of the Lignite Energy Council, told Inside Energy.

North Dakota, the coal industry and federal government have sunk millions into carbon research in recent years.  Projects in North Dakota and other states are currently in the early stages and will require more investment before they’re ready to use on a commercial scale.

One of the projects is North Dakota’s Allam Cycle, a power plant that is designed to capture the carbon dioxide it creates and will use some of the CO2 to power the plant.

But, plans for the rest of the carbon dioxide only include underground storage where pressure and temperature have to be just right.

“We would have to have the right kind of rocks to store the CO2 in and a rock that would form a seal over that storage layer,” Geologist Dan Daly told a Nebraska teachers’ conference.

The coal industry is looking for other ways to turn carbon into cash.  The Great Plains Synfuels Plant gasifies coal and turns it into various products.

“Knowing that we probably will be in a carbon-constrained world going forward, we looked at it as an opportunity for generating more revenue,”Joan Dietz of Great Plains Synfuels Plant told Inside Energy.

The plant captures half the CO2 it creates.  Some will soon be used to make type of fertilizer for farmers’ crops known as urea.  The rest of the carbon dioxide will be shipped to Saskatchewan where it will then be sent into old oil wells where it will help boost production.

Mike Holmes says there is potential to do the same type of “enhanced oil recovery” in the Bakken if researchers can develop the technology to send CO2 into newly tapped shale formation.

Even with fracking, producers can only extract a small portion of the crude in rock, but by injecting CO2 more oil could be recovered.

“It would double one of the biggest oil plays the United States has had,” Holmes said.

The technology would mean demand for North Dakota’s lignite coal would be strong for years.  Other states including Wyoming are looking at new technologies to keep their coal industry going.

The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board has recently agreed to put $1.5 million towards the Carbon Products Innovation Center.

“Shipping coal out of the Powder River Basin provides an incredible revenue to the county and to the state,” said Phil Christopherson, CEO of Energy Capital Economic Development. “I think everybody realizes that, so if that went away, what would happen to the state.”

Christopherson admits that while coal is likely to be burned for the next 20 to 40 years, now is a good time to find alternative uses for the fossil fuel.  He says the innovation center will act like a business incubator which will foster research and business ideas on making and marketing coal-based products.

Products like carbon nanotubes used in antennas and carbon fibers used in high-end bike frames and new airplane wings.

“One of the big advantages, I think, of developing advanced carbon-based products from coal is the fact that we have the coal right here, under our feet, in ways you could say an almost inexhaustible supply,” Jim Ford, COO of Atlas Carbon.

Atlas Carbon is a three-year old Gillette, Wyoming company that produces premium-grade, low-cost activated carbon products for air and water treatment systems.

Last year, the company secured a $15 million loan to expand its operations.

Wyoming is also going to host the Carbon X-Prize, which is a competition pitting researchers from around the world against each other to find ways to use carbon emissions from coal after its burned and then put them into a product.

Coal states lawmakers have also vowed to fight proposed cuts to the energy budget that would see the budget for clean coal research cut by 85 percent.

Source: (June 22, 2017) North American Energy News


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