Print |
E-mail to a friend
OPINIONS
Editorial: Coal-to-liquids technology enters the action phase
Coal generates nearly half of the electricity used in the United States, and plans are under way to build several coal-to-liquids plants that would allow coal to be used in cars, trucks and aircraft. The most recent announcement was Tuesday, when Consol Energy and Synthesis Energy Systems said they plan to build an $800 million CTL plant at Benwood, W.Va., in Marshall County.
Purchase this photoWhile the debate of whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve or off the coast of Florida or California continues, progress is being made in using coal to make liquid fuels.
On Tuesday, Consol Energy and Synthesis Energy Systems (SES) announced plans to build an $800 million coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant at the town of Benwood, W.Va., in Marshall County. Consol will provide the coal, and SES will provide the technology.
It's good news for people who want to see America's most abundant energy mineral used to help solve some of our liquid fuel needs.
Consol is the nation's largest producer of bituminous coal. SES is a global industrial gasification company that has one plant operating in China and at least two more in development. They formed a joint venture known as Northern Appalachia Liquid Fuel to build the plant in Marshall County.
The CTL plant is to be built on a previously used industrial site near some of Consol's mines in Marshall County. It will use a blend of run-of-mine coal and coal otherwise not recovered in the normal preparation process -- in other words, material that would have been considered waste.
Coal will be converted to synthetic gas using SES proprietary technology. The syngas will be used to produce about 720,000 metric tons per year of methanol that can be used as a feedstock for the chemical industry. Officials expect the project will be capable of converting methanol to about 100 million gallons per year of 87-octane gasoline. The project will include a river terminal facility where products will be stored in tanks for loading into barges for delivery to customers.
This is good news for West Virginia, and it's good news for America's efforts to develop new sources of energy, especially in ways that lessen its dependence on foreign sources. And it's not experimental technology or a pilot plant. SES is already using it in China.
Of course, this is not a totally done deal. Some design work on the new CTL plant remains to be done, and there are environmental permits to obtain. The governor's office has told the company it will expedite the processing of the permits.
In all likelihood, these permits will be examined carefully. Among others who will want to make their voices heard, environmental groups could object to the plant on the grounds that CTL plants emit large quantities of greenhouse gases. Consol and SES say the proposed plant will store carbon in a deep saline aquifer. Critics will have the opportunity to object, and the companies will be able to respond to or alter their plans. That's the way our form of government works.
The proposed plant at Benwood is similar to another plant being developed at a site about 45 miles up the Ohio River near the town of Wellsville, Ohio. There, Baard Energy plans to build a $4 billion plant to convert coal and wood to diesel fuel, jet fuel and naphtha. The company expects the Defense Department to be its largest customer. That project is farther along than the Benwood project, and public hearings have been conducted on its environmental permits.
Kentucky officials are competing with several other states to land a $7.6 billion CTL plant in the Paducah area.
The United States has many problems related to energy supply, and many solutions are being debated. Coal to liquids is one of them. Coal shale and tar sands are others, along with allowing drilling in some areas that are now off limits. Market forces and government regulations will bring some of them to fruition and cause others to lag behind.
In any event, the announcement in Marshall County last week was a good one for West Virginia and a good one for the country in that we are moving beyond the talking stages of looking for new sources of liquid fuels and are taking the first real steps toward finding them.
