DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter | Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 12:00 am
The national and international focus on controlling greenhouse gas emissions draws a target on Wyoming's prolific coal industry, which supports more than 18,000 jobs and pumps more than $750 million into the state's economy annually.
Today, state officials, along with the University of Wyoming and General Electric, are expected to announce a plan to build a $40 million coal gasification research facility. It would specifically aim at making Wyoming's coal resource a viable option in a carbon-controlled future.
Wyoming's $20 million portion, if the Legislature agrees to spend it, is a wise investment, said Mark Northam, director of UW's School of Energy Resources.
"Those are small numbers compared to the benefit," Northam said.
Gasifying coal under heat and pressure breaks apart carbon molecules and provides an opportunity to isolate several compounds, including carbon dioxide. The world's top scientists say human-caused CO2 is almost certainly a key factor in global warming.
Northam said the GE and UW coal gasification research facility, if it comes to fruition, would focus on Powder River Basin coal. The main goal would be to minimize the cost of overcoming the relatively high moisture content of Wyoming coal.
"Our research would focus on gasification without the need to get the moisture out up front," Northam said. "If we can eliminate that step, we reduce the energy requirement for gasifying the coal."
Wyoming's high altitude also raises the cost of gasifying coal, another key challenge that would be addressed at the research facility.
"Cost is the No. 1 big concern in gasifying coal right now," Northam said.
So far, there are no plans beyond building a "world-class" coal gasification facility in the pending GE partnership, according to Northam. But if the facility is built, researchers could add co-electrical generation, or coal-to-liquids or coal-to-synthetic gas facilities in the future.
PacifiCorp in November pulled plans for an additional coal-fired unit at its Jim Bridger Power Plant in southwest Wyoming. At the same time, it shelved a joint effort with the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority to lay the foundation for a coal gasification project to meet a provision in the federal 2005 energy bill.
Just last month, though, Peabody Energy announced plans to build "several" coal-to-synthetic gas facilities at its mine locations in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Peabody indicated it would not build co-electrical generation with the facilities, but would simply pipe the synthetic gas into the existing natural gas market.
Northam said the hope is that the UW and GE research will lead to commercial coal gasification in the state.
"The real benefit of this is it really opens up an entirely new avenue for extracting energy from coal. Once we can efficiently gasify the coal, we can get into the liquid fuels business in the state, and we can get into petrochemicals, all from coal," Northam said.
Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com.