The Montana Coal Gasification and Fischer-Tropsch Project

1
The Montana Coal Gasification and
Fischer-Tropsch Project

• Joe Wendland
• Cliff Robbins

2
Introduction

• Technical aspects of Fischer-Tropsch
• History of Fischer-Tropsch
• Environmental impact
• Economic overview
• Selected sites for advanced coal development
• Analysis of these sites

3
Technical Fischer-Tropsch

• Coal to Liquid
• Direct
• Coal gt Crude Oil
• Indirect (Fischer Tropsch)
• Coal -gt Gas -gt Crude
• Potential to reduce cost of Conversion

4
Brief History of Coal Gasification and
Fischer-Tropsch

• Germany during WWII
• Parallel plate reactor
• South Africa during Apartheid
• Arge reactor (Shell and tube reactor)
• China and Montana
• Learning from past experiences

5
Environmental Impact

• Carbon emissions
• Climate change (cost big 5-20 of GDP Stern
  report)
• Carbon sequestration
• More or Less than conventional Crude?
• Strip Mining
• Not too bad

6
Economic Overview

• Historic Price of oil 13 - 75
• Current Price 60
• Fischer Tropsch - 40 / bbl (sequestration?)
• Construction cost - 750 million
• Construction time 5 years

7
Montana
8
Selected Sites for Advanced Coal Development

• Bull Creek
• Colstrip
• Decker
• Kinsey
• Nelson Creek
• Otter Creek

9
Pros and Cons of Selected Sites

• Pros
• Most sites have sufficient water sources
• State government
• Existing transportation infrastructure to support
  initiation of some proposed sites
• Large amount of coal in reserves

10
Pros and Cons of Selected Sites

• Cons
• Addition to transportation infrastructure
• Additional pipelines needed since most are
  operating near full capacity (80-90)
• Initiation costs and lack of federal funding

11
Conclusion

• Many challenges exist
• Challenges can be overcome
• Benefits of Economic Development and Energy
  Security