West Virginia University researchers have developed a way to convert coal into synthetic oil in a carbon dioxide-free, economical process and, through a licensing agreement, two international firms are planning to demonstrate its viability.
Quantex Energy Inc. of Canada and New Hope Corporation Ltd of Australia announced an agreement in September to commercialize the technology acquired under license from WVU. The companies are hoping to eventually produce up to 50,000 barrels of synthetic oil per day in up to three different demonstration facilities.
The plan calls for New Hope and Quantex to have a 25-year exclusive license for the WVU technology that converts coal into synthetic crude oil. This new process is cheaper than previous systems and does not produce any carbon dioxide. WVU researchers explained that in the process, coal is not gasified, but rather dissolved.
The Carbon Products Group at WVU, which patented the technology, has been supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and private sources to develop cleaner production processes for heavy products such as pitch and coke.
Elliot Kennel, research coordinator for the Carbon Products Group, a part of WVU’s Department of Chemical Engineering and WVU’s Advanced Energy Initiative, said the wide global distribution of existing coal reserves provides the opportunity for this process to replace a portion of the global crude oil supply. The process is compatible with conventional oil industry refining techniques and offers the opportunity to provide a secure, cost-competitive crude supply to refineries.
“Our original intent was to use hydrogen from the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s FUTUREGEN project, which would be used to hydrogenate heavy liquids thereby improving their ability to dissolve West Virginia coal,” Kennel said.
FUTUREGEN was originally conceived as a method for producing hydrogen and electric power with zero atmospheric emissions, though in recent years the emphasis has been focused mainly on capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide.
“We found that certain carbon products can be made from coal without using gaseous hydrogen at all,” said Kennel.
Eliminating hydrogen from the liquefaction process results in lower capital cost. As a result, WVU technologies involving coal conversion offer an affordable means for achieving lower carbon footprint and overall reduced environmental impact compared to current practices.
The researchers believe that cleaner products can be made from coal liquids rather than from heavy petroleum residues thanks to the use of solvent extraction and low emissions technologies for processing.
Other members of the core group include Al Stiller, John Zondlo and Peter Stansberry (now with GrafTech International).
The Advanced Energy Initiative at WVU coordinates and promotes University-wide research in science, technology and public policy. AEI brings together a network of more than 100 energy researchers from four colleges and more than twenty centers for energy research advances. AEI seeks to enable West Virginia to create new energy technology opportunities though discovery, engagement and innovation. To learn more about the Advanced Energy Initiative at WVU, visit our website: http://energyresearch.wvu.edu.
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College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
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