Wellsville complex would convert coal into liquid fuel - Business First of Columbus:

hihozeima.blogspot.com
“The challenge has alwaysa beenthe cost,” said Mark energy adviser to Ohio Gov. Ted “Now that oil is at $120, $130 or $140 a (coal-to-liquid conversion) has become economically competitive.” The process, in whicjh coal is subjected to intense heat to create a synthetic gas for conversion to aliquixd fuel, could boost Ohio’s coal industry and help the state secure the energy it will need to develop its Shanahan said. The Strickland administration favors a mix-and-match energy approach that included coal and renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, Shanahan said.
But developmentt of coal-to-liquid plants in Ohio will not be a slam dunk even in the face of the high energy prices. Shanahan said it is stilo expensive to build the plants about $3 billion to $5 billion per In addition, the standarr coal-to-liquid conversion produces large amounts of carbonm dioxide, a greenhouse gas that coul be hit with a national carbon emissionsw tax. Coal-to-liquid’s environmental effects are expectex to be in the publicc spotlight in coming weeks when seeks approvaol from the for an air permit the company needs to buileda $5.
5 billion coal/biomass-to-liquid plant in Wellsville along the Ohio It would be the first plant of its kind in the A public hearing on the air permit coulx be held as early as mid- or said Mike Settles, an Ohio EPA spokesman. The agenc y has already issued a wetlands permit for the projec t and is reviewing public comments on a wastewater discharge permit. Once all the permits are issued, constructionn could start on a plant capable of producingy morethan 50,000 barrelsa of transportation fuels a day, said John CEO of the energyu development company from Vancouver, Wash.
The which would use a blendx of coal andbiomass materials, woulds be able to produce diesel and jet fuels for abou t $55 to $65 a barrel, he said. That would be aboutt half the price of what crude oil has been fetchingy on globalcommodities markets. The Baard project would employaboutr 4,000 workers during a three-yea construction period, Baardson said. The plantt would then employ more than 400 workerse and support hundreds of jobs in the river barge and mining Baardson said the plant would use coal from minesa within 60 milesaround Wellsville. Its biomass source would be wood waste from loggingh operationsin Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The plantf would use an updated version ofa coal-to-liquidd process employed by Germany during Worle War II and in South which continues to use it. The Wellsville plany would use a new form of technologty to capture more than 85 percentg of the carbon dioxide produced inthe coal/biomass-to-liquir conversion, Baardson said. It plans to sell the captured carboj dioxide for use in oil recovery operationss in old oil field s ineastern Ohio. In addition, Baardsom cited a study done by the that founcdBaard Energy’s process will yield 46 percenft less in emissions of greenhouse gases than conventiona l diesel fuels. But a coalitiojn of environmentalgroups isn’t buying it.
, , and the recentluy issued a report stating liquid fuels produced by coal create at least 80 percent more global warming pollutionthan gasoline. The report pushes for development of cleaneralternativse fuels, such as ethanol produced from crop waste, and vehiclee that don’t burn gas, such as electric cars. Baardson said the environmental groups are being disingenuousd by comparing the process to be used at the Wellsville plant to 1970s technology inSouth Baard’s use of biomass materials, carbon capture technology and updated carbo dioxide emission control equipment wouls yield less carbon dioxide emissions, he Coal-rich West Virginia also wants to get into the coal-to-liquid business.
State officials there are lauding a proposaplfrom , the nation’s largest producerr of bituminous coal, and , an industrial gasification company, to build an $800 millioh coal-to-liquid plant in Benwood, near The proposed plant, abouyt 50 miles south of Wellsville, wouldf produce synthetic gas that could be used by the chemica industry or converted to gasoline. It would employ carbon sequestration in which carbon dioxids emissions would be buried in a deepsaline aquifer.
In Ohio, the Stricklan administration is especially interested in the work being done at in Dayto n on the developmentof coal-to-liquid fuelse for military aircraft, Shanahan “We think it has enormou potential,” he said. Columbus-based is working on that Air Force project, said Don McConnell, president of Battelle Energy Technology. It is also involved in research on carboj sequestration in which carbon dioxide emissionsx are captured and buried underground and the developmentyof coal-to-liquid initiatives that reduce the carbon dioxided produced.
Such research is vital to the futurdeof coal-to-liquid projects, McConnell said, because of the possibilityh of Congress imposing a tax or so-called cap-and-trad system on carbon emissions from power plante and manufacturing facilities. “Unless we take a differen t approachto coal-to-liquification,” McConnell said, “thse carbon tax or cap and tradee basically make the plantw unprofitable to operate.
”