Script of Clean Coal Technologies PowerPoint Presentation
Slide 1 – Clean Coal Technologies Introduction
No narration
Slide 2 – What are clean coal technologies?
Clean coal technologies represent a group of innovations designed to enhance the efficiency and environmental acceptability of coal preparation and use. With our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders are beginning to focus on the use of clean coal technologies to ensure energy security and independence for our country.
Slide 3 – U.S. Coal Deposits
Coal is our most plentiful domestic resource. There is enough to last at least 275 years, at our current rate of use. Based on a 60 percent recovery rate, we have 300 billion tons of recoverable reserves. It is cheap, plentiful, and secure.
Slide 4 – U.S. Supply, Consumption and Imports
The U.S. is increasing its dependence on imported oil. Natural gas is becoming an international commodity subject to the same problems of supply as oil.
Slide 5 – CCT: Clean Coal Technologies
The growth of the clean coal industry will bring a variety of opportunities to Kentucky. In addition to the economic and security benefits, clean coal technologies can ensure continued use of Kentucky’s coal resources in an environmentally sound manner.
Slide 6 – Clean Coal Technologies Topical Menu
This presentation will explore the processes and benefits of clean coal technologies. You may watch the entire presentation or click on one of these individual topics.
Slide 7 – Gasification Technologies
Gasification is the cornerstone technology of clean coal processes.
Slide 8 – Gasification Technologies – A Brief Overview
Gasification technologies are used in a variety of industries to manufacture a wide array of products. Gasification is the first step in the process of producing clean and efficient energy, fuels, and other valuable products.
Slide 9 - Flash Movie of Gasification
Let’s take a closer look at coal gasification. Coal is fed into a vessel called a gasifier. In the gasifier the coal is exposed to heat and pressure. Carefully controlled amounts of oxygen are released into the gasifier, allowing a portion of the coal to burn. This is called partial oxidation. The heat and pressure break up the molecular structure of the partially oxidized coal, causing a chemical reaction to take place. During the process, ash and other by-products are trapped in the bottom of the gasifier and removed as slag or char.
Slide 10 – Gasification – Synthesis Gas
The chemical reaction in the coal produces a hydrogen and carbon-monoxide rich gas called synthesis gas.
Slide 11 – Gasification Uses
Synthesis gas can be used in electrical power generation, the production of transportation fuels and other chemicals, or, through upgrading, as a replacement for natural gas.
Slide 12 – Syngas Applications
Synthesis gas can also be used to produce ammonia, fertilizers, synthetic fuels and waxes.
Slide 13 – Gasification – Gas-stream clean-up
Because gasification uses oxygen rather than air to produce synthesis gas, the resulting gas stream is smaller and is not diluted with nitrogen. Sulfur removal is an integral part of this process. With more carbon dioxide and no nitrogen or sulfur in the gas stream, clean-up methods are cheaper and more efficient than for traditional coal combustion methods.
Slide 14 – Natural Gas
Natural gas is a fossil fuel composed primarily of methane. Natural gas is found in oil and gas fields, as well as coal beds.
Slide 15 – Natural Gas Uses
Natural gas is used to produce gasoline, diesel, hydrogen and fertilizers. It can also be used to cook food, heat homes and generate electrical power.
Slide 16 – Natural Gas Crisis
In recent years the price of natural gas in North America has increased due to a rising demand for electricity. This has been called the North American Natural Gas Crisis. The solution to the natural gas crisis is to find alternatives to natural gas to accommodate the rise in demand.
Slide 17 – Synthetic Natural Gas
This domestic shortage in natural gas can be resolved by producing synthetic natural gas from coal. Synthetic natural gas, or SNG, can be produced that is chemically identical to pipe-line quality natural gas.
Slide 18 - Flash Movie of Synthetic Natural Gas
Gasification is the first step in the process of producing SNG. Coal is fed into a gasifier where controlled amounts of heat, oxygen and pressure cause a chemical reaction to occur. This reaction produces synthesis gas composed of a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The synthesis gas is then piped through a cleaning system where impurities such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, and mercury are removed and ammonia and water are condensed. The methane-rich gas stream is then purified to produce a pipeline-quality fuel equivalent to natural gas. Methanation is the next step in the process. During methanation the clean synthesis gas is exposed to a catalyst, which quickens the reaction. Steam is added to “fluidize” the mixture, ensuring constant contact between the synthesis gas and the catalyst.
Slide 19 – Synthetic Natural Gas – How It Is Produced
This causes carbon monoxide to react with the hydrogen in synthesis gas. The reaction produces synthetic natural gas.
Slide 20 – Synthetic Natural Gas Process
The synthetic natural gas is then cooled, dried and compressed.
Slide 21 – Synthetic Natural Gas Process
Because SNG is chemically equivalent to natural gas, and has an equivalent energy content, it can be transported through existing pipelines and tankers and used in the same applications as natural gas.
Slide 22 – Synthetic Natural Gas - Ammonia Applications
During the process of manufacturing SNG, ammonia can be extracted and used to produce fertilizers, disinfectants, nitric acid and universal gas odorants.
Slide 23 – Coal to Liquids
Coal-to-liquids technology converts synthesis gas into hydrocarbons, which may be used to produce transportation fuel, such as super-clean diesel and gasoline as well as chemicals.
Slide 24 – Coal to Liquids – A New Market?
South Africa has produced coal-derived fuels since 1955. Currently, 30 percent of South Africa’s gasoline and diesel needs are produced from coal. Sasol, a South African company that specializes in synthetic fuel production, has plans to build plants in other countries around the world.
Slide 25 - Flash Movie of Coal to Liquids
The first step in producing coal-to-liquid products is coal gasification. Coal is fed into a gasifier, where controlled amounts of heat, oxygen and pressure convert the coal into a gas called synthesis gas, which is composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This is the first step in both coal to liquids and coal to gas. A gas cleaning system removes impurities from the synthesis gas, including sulfur, mercury, and any carbon dioxide that may be present. The synthesis gas is then exposed to a catalyst, typically iron or cobalt, which causes a chemical reaction to take place. This reaction is known as Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis.
Slide 26 – Coal to Liquids Applications
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can convert synthesis gas into a range of useful products such as transportation fuels, synthetic waxes, alcohols, chemicals, and methane. The waxes are used in many applications including adhesives, inks, textiles, and polishes. Because all sulfur is removed in the gasification process, the diesel is far cleaner than the Environmental Protection Agency’s requirements.
Slide 27 – Coal to Liquids – Environmental Impact
By using oxygen rather than air to gasify the coal, the gas-stream is smaller and less diluted. With a more concentrated gas-stream, clean-up is more efficient. The cleaned synthesis gas is used to produce clean-burning coal-to-liquid fuels. CTL diesel, for example, is sulfur free. CTL fuels have a much higher cetane number than petroleum-derived fuels. A high cetane number means they burn more efficiently.
Slide 28 – Coal to Liquids – Domestic Benefits
Coal-to-liquid technology is helping the United States in its quest for energy security and independence. These technologies enable American companies to produce valuable products from Kentucky coal. CTL-produced synthetic waxes can be stored indefinitely and used at any time, providing an additional security benefit from this technology.
Slide 29 – Gasification for Electrical Power Generation: IGCC
Coal and other hydrocarbons have been gasified for the production of chemicals, fertilizers and synthetic fuels for more than half a century. It is only in the last 20 years that coal gasification has been used to generate electricity using the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle process.
Slide 30 – Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
In a combined cycle power plant, two turbines are used to generate electricity. First, hot gas is used to power a gas turbine and produce electricity. Next, waste heat is recovered and used to boil water, producing steam for a steam turbine. This added step generates more electricity from each pound of coal and does so more cleanly compared to traditional coal combustion because the gas stream is concentrated.
Slide 31 – Flash Movie of IGCC
The first step in this process is gasification. As with the production of synthetic natural gas and coal to liquids production, coal is fed into a gasifier where heat, oxygen, and pressure convert the coal into synthesis gas. The product gas is then cleaned to remove pollutants, and the hot gas product is burned in a gas turbine to produce electrical energy. Hot exhaust from the gas turbine is recovered and used to boil water, creating steam for a steam turbine which generates additional electricity. By using this combined cycle, a combined cycle power plant operates with greater efficiency and fewer emissions, producing more electric power per ton of coal feed than traditional combustion technologies.
Slide 32 – IGCC Technology – Clean and Efficient
The IGCC process produces electricity cleanly and efficiently. In a conventional power plant, emissions are removed at the end of the process. With IGCC technology, pollutants are removed from the synthesis gas before it is burned.
Slide 33 – Carbon Capture, Sequestration and Use
Carbon dioxide is believed to be one of the leading causes of global warming. The gasification process allows carbon dioxide to be removed from the waste stream through carbon capture and utilization or sequestration technologies. Because of concentrated levels of carbon dioxide in the waste stream, gasification is more amenable to carbon capture and sequestration than the combustion exhaust known as flue gas from conventional coal combustion. Carbon capture and sequestration are in various stages of research and development. These technologies will one day help limit the impact of fossil fuel use on the environment.
Slide 34 – Carbon Capture – Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Capture and Sequestration, or CCS, involves separating, pressurizing, and storing carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use.
Slide 35 – Carbon Capture – “Post Combustion Capture”
The CCS method closest to implementation is post combustion capture, which can be applied to existing pulverized coal combustion power plants. After coal is burned to generate electricity, a chemical solvent is used to extract carbon dioxide from the flue gas. The cleaned flue gas can then be released into the atmosphere. The captured CO2 then may be pressurized and transported. As more clean coal technologies come online, these processes will become more efficient and economical.
Slide 36 – Carbon Capture and Sequestration/Enhanced Oil Recovery - Diagram
Carbon dioxide can be stored indefinitely in geological formations including deep saline aquifers and depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs. The US Department of Energy’s regional carbon sequestrations partnership estimates that the US has sufficient sequestration potential to hold all of its CO2 emissions for the next 1,000 years.
Slide 37 – Enhanced Oil Recover – The Market for CO2
Enhanced oil recovery is the clean coal industry’s response to the growing market for captured carbon monoxide. Enhanced oil recovery is a technique that uses captured CO2 to increase the amount of oil that can be extracted from depleted oil fields.
Slide 38 – Enhanced Oil Recovery - Diagram
With enhanced oil recovery, captured CO2 is injected into depleted oil wells to force otherwise unrecoverable oil to the wellhead. Captured carbon dioxide may also be injected into unminable coal seams to displace methane, which can be recovered and marketed.
Slide 39 – Enhanced Oil Recover – A Market for CO2
Once all recoverable oil is extracted using CO2 enhanced oil recovery, the well is then sealed to ensure the safe and long-term containment of the injected CO2. For every ton of carbon dioxide stored, up to 4 barrels of oil can be recovered in oil fields.
Slide 40 – Enhanced Oil Recovery – Dakota Gasification Company
Petroleum companies are beginning to pursue CO2 enhanced oil recovery projects. The Dakota Gasification Company in North Dakota produces synthetic natural gas from coal and captures and pressurizes CO2 at its gasification plant. It then transports it via pipeline to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan, where it is used in enhanced oil recovery.
Slide 41 – Enhanced Oil Recovery – A Market for CO2
According to a 2006 report issued by the US Department of Energy, Kentucky is an ideal state for enhanced oil recovery projects.
Slide 42 – Benefits of CCT
The Kentucky Geological Survey has investigated the potential for oil recovery projects in the state and has identified several regions that would benefit from enhanced oil recovery.
Slide 43 – Benefits of CCT - Security
Kentucky ranks third nationally in coal production. The development of clean coal technologies will introduce new industries to the state and provide incentives for coal mining. With the growth of the clean coal industry, Kentucky will remain a key-player in securing America’s energy future.
Slide 44 – Benefits of CCT - Security
Clean coal technologies will ensure energy security and independence by utilizing our domestic energy supply.
Slide 45 – Benefits of CCT - Security
The Department of Defense is interested in using coal-to-liquid fuels for aircraft and military vehicles. CTL fuels produce more energy than traditional diesel and are less likely to freeze in extreme cold conditions. Using domestically produced CTL fuels will simplify battlefield refueling. It will make the country less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions caused by unpredictable events such as natural disasters and foreign wars. The military can avoid buying oil from unstable regimes by using American-produced CTL fuels.
Slide 46 – Benefits of CCT - Economic
The development of clean coal technologies offers many economic advantages.
Slide 47 - Benefits of CCT - Economic
A coal-to-liquids plant with an output of 10,000 barrels of transportation fuel per day, or the synthetic natural gas equivalent, could support up to 200 jobs on site and around 2,000 related jobs throughout the region. The construction of the plant alone would provide approximately 1,100 temporary jobs, along with the addition of about 240 jobs at supporting coal mines.