FutureGen, and the Natural Gas Report

Well I was planning on just putting up a quick post today on the natural gas report, and then trotting off, but I noticed that the plans for the FutureGen program in Illinois seem to be gaining legs so herewith a couple of words on that. The program itself is to build a coal-fired power plant at Mattoon and to make it such that is has a near-zero emission level, while producing hydrogen as well as low-cost electric power. Some of the technologies that it will employ have not been demonstrated at this scale before (the plant is a 275 MW unit, that will operate using a variety of different coals initially, to get baseline data, but will possibly use Illinois #6 or similar local coals once in steady operation). The plant is currently planning on using rock that is some 3,000 ft below the surface, and filled with a salt water (the deep-saline reservoir) since this is deep enough that the CO2 can be injected as a liquid (smaller volume) and will remain in this form, and that the reservoirs are big enough to hold the volumes that will be produced. (At these pressures the purists will tell you that the CO2 is a super-critical fluid, rather than a liquid, but for simplicity it can be considered in this discussion to act like one). The plant is going to generate between 1 and 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 each year, and has found several sites that can hold more than 50 million tons apiece. If the sites aren’t on the property, then the fluid will be pumped to the site through pipes that will likely be 10 -16 inches in diameter.

While the plant will produce hydrogen, this will largely be used at the site, rather than becoming a commercial product. The site notes (most of this information is from the FutureGen site) that there are two existing IGCC sites, one at Tampa Electric, and one at Terre Haute.

The combustion technology for these Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants is a combination of two technologies, and as described at Tampa:

The first technology is called "coal gasification," which uses coal to create a clean-burning gas. The second technology is called "combined-cycle," which is the most efficient method of producing electricity commercially available today.

The plant combines coal with oxygen in the gasifier to produce the gaseous fuel. After processing, the clean coal gas is used in the combustion turbine to produce electricity.Combined-cycle technology increases efficiency because it reuses exhaust heat to produce more electricity.

Combined-cycle design consists of a combustion turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, and a steam turbine. The exhaust heat from the combustion turbine is recovered in the heat recovery steam generator to produce steam. This steam then passes through a steam turbine to produce more electricity. . . . . .

The coal gasification unit provides clean, coal-fueled power, with a minimum removal of 95 percent of the sulfur from the coal gas. This exceeds the performance of today's most advanced coal-fired generating units. Furthermore, nitrogen oxides emissions are also lower than many of today’s most advanced coal-fired generating units. The sulfuric acid and solid byproducts are then sold for industry use. The plant is considered "zero process water discharge.” A brine concentration unit, which produces an effluent that is reused in the process, handles all of the liquid waste.

Wikipedia has a circuit diagram of the process.The Terre Haute plant has changed hands since it was first built.

So we will see how the politics plays out on this, this time around, given that it appears to have the blessing of the Secretary of Energy.

Turning to the Natural Gas Weekly Update the news for gas producers remains unfortunate (though good for customers). While the Henry Hub price remains around $4 per kcf (thousand cubic feet) prices west of the Mississippi have dropped to under $3, with the Opal trading hub in Wyoming seeing a price of $2.53. There has recently been a surplus of gas in the West, and the Rockies Express pipeline was supposed to allow easier passage to the markets of the East. It is already helping in that regard, but it still has a long way to get to the Northeast where demand, and a cold snap put the price up to over $9.13 on the coldest day. Winter is, however, coming to an end, and so it remains unlikely that the trends in the graph that the site updates each week, are going to change soon.

Source EIA

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P27. Pick Points

Half-a-dozen or so stories of interest:

Somewhere in Washington they are looking for incentives for us to buy a new car. The Germans have seen it work by providing 2,500 euros to everyone who replaces a car at least nine years old with a new one. The need for this can be seen by the continued decline in sales, even as industry incentives have risen to an average $2,902. Well maybe we should hold-off on a replacement until they decide ?

Having set some of the standards for automobiles that will likely soon impact the rest of the country, it is now California’s turn to go after energy inefficient appliances, such as TV’s, which can account for 10% of a home electricity bill. The Department of Energy is running a campaign to improve residential water heaters. Yet the amount set aside in the stimulus package is relatively quite small. Though that has not stopped some entrepreneurs. There are the standard steps that one can take to save energy but if the economy is to rebound, then the scale of increase that California has achieved needs to be applied, even perhaps in Italy.

One of the features of the Medieval Warming Period was the extensive and long-lasting droughts that hit Southern California. Trees grew where now lakes and rivers run, it was so dry. Now California is again facing severe drought. There are already campaigns to reduce water usage . With the snow pack only 61% of normal this could be the third year in a row where water runs short, and this is beginning to have serious consequences for agriculture . While the snow situation is a little better in Nevada, it too is facing problems. On the other hand Utah’s nine-year drought came to an end last June, and Arizona is seeing a moderate drought in Navajo County.

Following the Russia:Ukraine dispute over natural gas the relatively small volumes that could be sent around Ukraine through the North and South Stream pipelines is getting another look. In the South Gazprom is considering increasing capacity by 50% to 47 bcm. Coming the day after the meeting on the Nabucco pipeline, its major competitor, the response is quite quick. Germany points out that one can support both. But it may be Prime Minister Putin who makes the next move.

MidWestern Senators are urging a reconsideration of the FutureGen project. This plan to build a demonstration coal-fired power plant that would capture and sequester carbon dioxide was “restructured” by the last DOE Administration, and thus killed. This could not, perhaps have had anything to do with it being proposed for Illinois, where the junior Senator at the time had announced his support.

In order to help provide more electricity to Nepal, the price is to be raised and in this way load shedding can drop to 12 hours a day “soon” and to 6 hours a day by the end of February. There is s Singaporean there blogging about the problems.

For more stories see The Energy Bulletin or Drumbeat at The Oil Drum