posted
Old King Coal's Obituary Yet 2006-02-14 By Luke Burgess
Whether the environmentalists like it or not, coal is poised to become one of the most important fuels in the world.
Boosted by substantial economic growth in both India and China, as well as the worldwide population boom, the global demand for energy is skyrocketing.
This demand has given way to a growing movement to make coal a cheap, secure, and domestic alternative to nuclear power and natural gas.
Fortunately for us, North America has nearly 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves, accounting for about a quarter of worldwide reserves. Needless to say, the opportunity here is enormous.
And as you know, the environmental concern of burning coal for energy is the key factor that's holding us back from exploiting this massive resource.
Now, I'm sure you've heard a lot about what's been coined "clean coal" technology. But what is it?
In the coming weeks my associate, Sam Hopkins, will be delving deeper into the technology with you. But today I want to give you a general overview of the technology.
"Clean coal" technology is actually an umbrella term for a variety of technologies and power-plant designs.
The clean coal power-plants, which will appear in the next decade or so, will be unrecognizable to those familiar with its ancestors.
These modern facilities promise to take the dirtiest and most abundant fossil fuel on the continent, clean it up and turn it into low-emission electricity.
The plants will use high temperatures and extreme pressure to convert coal into a hydrogen-rich synthetic gas.
Throughout this chemical bond-breaking process, a system of filters and scrubbers will remove contaminants, while activated carbon is used to capture mercury.
Carbon dioxide is also easily separated from the gas, which is eventually burned in a power-generating turbine, much like natural gas.
And like most advanced natural gas plants, clean-coal gasification plants operate on a more efficient combined cycle, meaning waste heat from the process is used in a steam turbine to produce even more electricity.
Ideally, the goal is to reduce coal-plant emissions enough to make them environmentally competitive with natural gas.
For a brief overview and illustration on how a clean coal gasification plant works, click here.
Now, clean coal isn't without its risks.
For one, companies and investors remain hesitant on constructing these facilities.
Even though energy experts say construction costs will fall 90% as the design becomes more widespread, being the first to test the water comes with significant financial fears. This includes the kind of construction delays and cost overruns typically associated with nuclear power-plant construction.
Also, one of the big attractions of a clean-coal facility is based on the belief that coal prices will remain cheap and natural gas will continue to rise.
But coal prices have more than doubled over the past two years. And while the black rock is still much cheaper than natural gas and oil, the clean coal movement may push prices much higher over the next decade.
Another problem is what to do with all the CO2 that's captured. It's generally thought that CO2 could be pumped into old oil fields for long-term storage, a process known as sequestration. This method also enhances oil recovery by forcing hard-to-reach reserves up to the surface.
EnCana (NYSE:ECA - TSX:ECA), for example, is using CO2 pumped in from North Dakota to retrieve an estimated 130 million barrels of oil over two decades from a 50-year-old oil field in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. It's a win-win arrangement, but one that won't work everywhere.
There are other experimental technologies that could be considered, including converting CO2 to marketable baking soda or selling it to the carbonated beverage industry.
The greenhouse gas could even be used to feed huge farms of algae, which can be harvested and processed into biodiesel and ethanol.
Despite these fears governments worldwide are making the push to mainstream this technology.
Bush's proposed 2007 budget has earmarked $285 million for research and development into coal technologies and another $54 million for FutureGen, an initiative to build the world's first zero-emission fossil-fuel plant based on coal.
The states New York and Pennsylvania, have taken more aggressive steps to supported clean coal by setting up special investment funds, establishing incentives and offering low-cost loans to spur development of new technologies and power plants.
Even our friendly neighbors to the north are getting in on the action. A group of coal producers and power generators called the Canadian Clean Power Coalition has plans to build a $1.5 billion clean-coal demonstration plant by 2012.
Further advancements in the technology will make the rocky fuel more attractive to many countries, particularly China, which will need to build hundreds of new coal plants over the coming years and at the same time manage a worsening environmental crisis.
Luke Burgess
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
