Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF COAL PROJECTS
COMMERCIAL AND R&D PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
ADVANCED COAL CONVERSION PROCESS DEMONSTRATION -
United States Department of Energy (C-5)
Rosebud
SynCoal Partnership, Western Energy Company,
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed an agreement with Western Energy Company for funding as a re
placement project in Round 1 of the Department's Clean Coal Technology Program. DOE will fund half of the $69 million
project and the partners will provide the other half of the funding. Western Energy Company has entered a partnership with
Scoria Inc., a subsidiary of NRG, Northern States Powers'
nonutility group. The new entity, Rosebud SynCoal Partnership will
be the project owner. Western Energy Company has retained a contract to build and operate the facility.
The Svncoal process is a novel coal cleaning and upgrading process to improve the heating value and reduce the sulfur content
of western coals. Typical western coals may contain moisture as much as 25 to 35 percent of their weight. The high moisture
and mineral content of the coals reduces their heating value to less than 9,000 BTU per pound.
The Svncoal process would upgrade the coals, reducing their moisture content to as low as 1 percent and produce a heating
value of up to 12,000 BTU per pound. The process also reduces sulfur content of the coals, which can be as high as 1.5 percent,
to as low as 0A percent. The project will be conducted at a 50 ton per hour unit adjacent to a Western Energy subbituminous
coal mine in Colstrip, Montana.
"turnover"
Construction of the ACCP demonstration facility is complete and initial of equipment started in December 1991.
The DOE agreement calls for a 3-year operation demonstrating the ability to produce a clean, high quality, upgraded product
and testing the product in utility and industrial applications.
Initial startup was achieved in early 1992; however, due to mechanical problems, reliable operation was not achieved until
August 1993. The plant produces 1,000 tons per day, or 300,000 tons per year of upgraded solid fuel at full production.
Rosebud SynCoal Partnership successfully worked with Montana Power Company's Corette plant to conduct 7 months of tests
using a SynCoal/raw coal blend. Several industrial facilities are currently using SynCoal.
Based on the successful demonstration, Rosebud SvnCoal hopes to build a privately financed commercial-scale plant process
ing 1 to 3 million tons of coal per year by 1997.
In late December 1993, Minnkota Power Cooperative signed a letter of intent with Rosebud SynCoal Partnership for a
$2 million study to examine the merits of scaling up the tatter's technology to an $80 million commercial plant.
The SynCoal plant would be sited next to Minnkota's Milton R. Young power station near Center, North Dakota, northwest of
Bismarck. The engineering and design was study completed in mid-1994. The proposed project is technically feasible;
however, the markets and project financing are still pending.
Project Cost: $69 million
-- ADVANCED POWER GENERATION SYSTEM British Coal Corporation, United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry,
European Commission, PowerGen, GEC/Alsthom (C-15)
A consortium involving British Coal Corporation, United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry, European Commission,
PowerGen, and GEC/Alsthom is carrying out a research program to develop an advanced coal fired power generation system,
known as the Air Blown Gasification Cycle. In this system coal is gasified in a spouted bed gasifier to produce a fuel gas which
is used to drive a gas turbine. The waste heat recovery from the gas turbine is then integrated with a circulating fluidized bed
char combustor.
The integrated system is expected to have an efficiency of about 48 percent.
A 12 tonne per day, air blown, pressurized, spouted bed gasifier developed at the Coal Research Establishment (CRE).
Gloucestershire, started operating in 1990. This provides gas to a hot gas cleaning plant and a gas turbine combustor. The
Grimethorpe experimental pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC) facility was used to investigate lifetime issues in gas
turbine operations. The program at Grimethorpe was successfully concluded in 1993, and the site closed that year.
Work is continuing at Coal Technology Development Division (CTDD'). formerly part of CRE, on the operation of the gasifier
supplying gas to downstream components.
The research program is funded by the United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry, and the European Community.
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT. JANUARY 1995