Coal in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities

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Coal in the 21st Century Challenges and
Opportunities
Presented at the Electricity 2020 Forum Grand
Rapids, MN Dr. Michael L. Jones Senior Research
Advisor Energy Environmental Research
Center Grand Forks, ND February 14, 2007
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Humanitys Top Ten Problemsfor the Next 50 Years

• 1. ENERGY
• 2. WATER
• 3. FOOD
• 4. ENVIRONMENT
• 5. POVERTY
• 6. TERRORISM AND WAR
• 7. DISEASE
• 8. EDUCATION
• 9. DEMOCRACY
• 10. POPULATION

2003 -- 6.3 billion People 2050 -- 10 billion
People
Richard Smalley, 2003 (1996 Nobel Laureate in
Chemistry)
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Colin J. Campbell, 2004
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Hubberts Peak by Kenneth Deffeyes (2001)

• M. King Hubbert predicted U.S. oil production
  would peak in 1970.
• It did.
• The same approach predicts world oil production
  will peak within this decade.
• It will.
• The days of cheap energy from oil will then be
  gone.

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Richard Smalley, 2003 (1996 Nobel Laureate in
Chemistry)
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Richard Smalley, 2003
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U.S. Energy Resources
Source U.S. Department of Defense
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Bottom Line New Middle East
Source U.S. Department of Defense
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Opportunities for Coal

• Production of transportation fuels
• Liquids
• Hydrogen
• Electricity production

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Transportation Fuels -- Challenges

• Oil resources finite resource
• Alternative fuels (including electricity)
• Hydrogen
• Production
• Storage
• Distribution
• Coal production of hydrogen, liquid fuels and
  electricity
• CO2 sequestration

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Electricity Generation Challenges

• Zero-emission power plants that produce
  electricity, chemicals, and liquid fuels cheaply
• Massive long distance electricity transmission
• Electrical storage

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Coals Resurgence in Electric Power Generation
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Generation Options

• Conventional combustion
• Coal gasification (IGCC)
• Indirectly fired combined cycle

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Conventional Combustion

• Operational issues
• Environmental performance
• NOx
• Particulate
• SOx
• Metals
• CO2

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Ash Deposition Phenomena in Utility Boilers
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Environmental Issues

• SOx
• NOx
• Particulate
• Metals (Hg)
• CO2

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Coal Gasification
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IGCC Diagram
Source National Energy Technology Laboratory,
U.S. Department of Energy
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Opportunities for Low-Rank Coal Gasification

• High reactivity Lower temperature gasification
  processes transport reactor
• High sodium and calcium Catalyzes gasification
  rates
• High moisture Water for steam gasification,
  shift reaction, increased gas flow

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What Is the Best Conversion Technology?

• Key Fuel Properties
• Moisture content
• Coal reactivity
• Caking properties
• Inorganic materials Ash/slag and trace elements
• Sulfur levels
• Oxygen content

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Lignite Gasification to Produce Liquid Fuels,
Hydrogen, Electricity, and Carbon Dioxide
Modified after Gray and others, 2004.
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Fate and Impacts of Impurities on Gasification
and Gas Cleanup
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4
5
Cyclone
Coal Preparation and Upgrading/Slurry
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2
3
Recycle
Gas Purification and Separation
Sulfur Removal And Ammonia Removal
Syngas Cooler
Hot Gas Filter
1
Coal/Biomass/Pet Coke
Gasifier
1
2
3
4
5

• Gas Processing/
• Cooling
• Condensation
• Transport
• Deposition Growth
• and Removal

• Gasification
• Fuel Reactivity
• Partitioning (Vapor, Liquid, Solid)
• Slag Flow
• Bed/Ash Reaction
• Deposition

• Hot Gas Cleanup
• Particulate
• Hg
• Na
• Trace elements
• Halogens

• Fuel Prep and Upgrading
• Slurry Prep
• Drying
• Mineral Removal
• Blending

Quartz
Calcite
Na Ca
Pyrite
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6

• Gas Purification and Separation
• Shift Reactions
• Separation and
• Purification

• Sulfur Removal
• H2S --Metal Oxide
• Impact of Na, K
• Trace elements
• Hg
• Halogens

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Examples of Current Experience

• Eastman Chemical Company's coal gasification
  plant
• High-sulfur Appalachian bituminous 1300 ton/day
• Acetyl chemicals
• Over 22 years of operation
• Tampa Electric's Polk Power Station
• GE Energy (Texaco) gasifier slurry-fed,
  single-stage, entrained flow
• Pittsburgh Basin and Appalachian coals, petcoke,
  and biomass 2200 ton/day
• Medium-Btu syngas fired to produce electricity
  250 MWe
• DOE Clean Coal Project 4- to 5-year
  demonstration
• Commercial operation began in 1995
• SG Solutions Wabash River
• E-gas (ConocoPhillips) slurry-fed, two-stage,
  entrained-flow gasifier
• Illinois Basin coal, petroleum coke
• 262 MWe (net) of electricity
• DOE Clean Coal Project 4- to 5-year
  demonstration
• Commercial operation began in 1995
• GE Energy (Texaco) gasifiers slurry-fed,
  single-stage, entrained-flow quench gasifier

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Examples of Current Experience (cont.)

• Shell Gasification (Nuon) Buggenum Netherlands
• Shell gasifier entrained flow with dry fuel
  feeding and recycled syngas cooling
• Range of bituminous coals
• 253 MWe of electricity
• Operation since 1998
• Elcogas Puertollano, Spain
• Prenflo gasifier entrained-flow system with dry
  fuel feeding
• Coal and petroleum coke
• 298 MW of electricity
• Began operating in 1998
• Schwarze Pumpe Gmbh
• Future Energy Gmbh entrained flow with dry dry
  feeding cooling screen design
• 130 MWth brown coal before 1992 waste oil
  slurries after
• Operation since 1984

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Examples of Current Experience (cont.)

• Piñon Pine IGCC Power Project (Sierra Pacific)
• KRW fluidized-bed gasifier
• Utah bituminous, 0.50.9 sulfur coal 90 MW
• DOE Clean Coal Project Problems during start-up
  and project was not completed
• HTW Demonstration Berrenrath, Germany
• High-temperature Winkler fluidized bed with dry
  feed
• 140 MWth of dried brown coal
• Methanol production
• Started operation in 1986, shutdown in 1997 with
  67,000 hours
• GTI U-Gas Process
• Shanghai, China
• 1000 TPD, 8 gasifier low-pressure using
  bituminous coal
• Fuel gas for coke oven
• Started operation in 1995, currently moth-balled
  70,000 hours

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Advantages of Indirectly Fired Combined Cycles
(IFCC)

• Operations very similar to pc-fired boilers
• Nearer-term technology
• Higher efficiencies 45 when firing coal, over
  50 with NG supplement
• Half the water usage of a typical steam-based
  plant because of the Brayton cycle
• Slagging heat exchangers are self-cleaning
• Much lower loss of heat transfer due to fouling
• Much less overconstruction

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IFCC Schematic
Key FGD Flue Gas Desulfurization GT Gas
Turbine ST Steam Turbine
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Technologies for CO2 Capture
Others
Absorption
Cryogenics
Adsorption
Membranes
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Methods for Reducing GHG Emissions

• Renewable energy technologies
• Advanced high-efficiency energy systems
• Improve efficiency on existing systems
• Reduce consumption of energy
• Sequester GHG emissions

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PCOR Partnership

• Phase II Goals
• Increase public understanding of CO2
  sequestration
• Perform field validation tests that develop
• - MMV protocols
• - Regional sequestration strategies
• - Best separation/source matches
• - Regulatory and permitting strategies
• - Environmental benefits and risks
• - Information needed to monetize C
  credits
• Continued regional characterization
• Regional partnership program integration

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Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships
The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership
(RCSP) Program represents more than 216
organizations in 40 states, three Indian nations,
and four Canadian provinces.
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Partnership Benefits (cont.)

• Breaking news on our four regional field
  verification activities.

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Summary

• Clean coal will be part of our future energy mix.
• Coal gasification will be one option.
• CO2 capture and sequestration will be part of
  future coal development activities.
• A range of power generation options will be used
  to meet our future energy needs.

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Contact Information
Energy Environmental Research Center University
of North Dakota 15 North 23rd Street Stop
9018 Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-9018 www.und
eerc.org Telephone No. [phone] Fax No.
[phone]
Dr. Michael L. Jones Senior Research
Advisor [phone] mjones_at_undeerc.org