Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF COAL PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL AND R&D PROJECTS (Continued)
Ube was awarded the same scale of coal gasification plant in 1992 bv Peoples Republic of China which is scheduled to be commis
sioned near the end of 1995.
- Project Cost Not disclosed
- VARTAN DISTRICT HEATING PLANT Energie
Verk (C-595)
In 1990, a gas turbine PFBC system went into operation at the Vartan district heating plant in Stockholm, Sweden. The gas turbine
is a two-shaft, intercooled machine with the compressor providing the combustion air for the fluidized bed, which is then returned
through a cyclone system to clean the gas before it enters the turbine. In a combined cycle the gas turbine exhaust heat is captured
in the usual way, but the heat recovery boiler acts only as an evaporator, because the superheater stage is formed by a tube bundle
embedded in the fluidized bed.
The Vartan plant has an output of 135 MW of electric capacity and 210 MW thermal (MWt). The coal used has about 1 percent
sulfur and is fed to the combustor as a coal-water paste. Efficiency is about 42 percent.
- VICTORIAN BROWN COAL LIQUEFACTION PROJECT Brown
Coal Liquefaction (Victoria) Pty. Ltd. (C-610)
BCLV was operating a pilot plant at Morwell in southeastern Victoria to process the equivalent of 50 tonnes per day of moist ash
free coal until October 1990. BCLV is a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Nippon Brown Coal Liquefaction Company (NBCL), a
consortium involving Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation, Nissho Iwai, Idemitsu Kosan, and Cosmo Oil.
The project is being run as an inter-governmental cooperative project, involving the Federal Government of Australia, the State
Government of Victoria, and the Government of Japan. The program is being fully funded by the Japanese government through
the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). NBCL is entrusted with implementation of the
entire program, and BCLV is carrying out the Australian components. The Victorian government is providing the plant site, the
coal, and some personnel.
Construction of the drying, slurrying, and primary hydrogenation sections comprising the first phase of the project began in
November 1981. The remaining sections, consisting of solvent deashing and secondary hydrogenation, were completed during
1986. The pilot plant was operated until October 1990, and shut down at that point.
The pilot plant is located adjacent to the Morwell open cut brown coal mine. Davy McKee Pacific Pty. Ltd.,
provided the
Australian portion of engineering design procurement and construction management of the pilot plant. The aim of the pilot plant
was to prove the effectiveness of the BCL Process which had been developed since 1971 by the consortium.
Work at the BCLV plant was moved in 1990 to a Japanese laboratory, starting a three-year study that will determine whether a
demonstration plant should be built. NBCL is developing a small laboratory in Kobe, Japan, specifically to study the Morwell
project.
Part of the plant will be demolished and the Coal Corporation of Victoria is a considering using part of the plant for an R&D
program aimed at developing more efficient brown coal technologies. The possibility of building a demonstration unit capable of
producing 16,000 barrels per day from 5,000 tonnes per day of dry coal will be examined in Japan.
If a commercial plant were to be constructed, it would be capable of producing 100,000 barrels of synthetic oil, consisting of six
lines of plant capable of producing 16,000 barrels from 5,000 tonnes per day dry coal. For this future stage, Australian companies
will be called for equity participation for the project.
Project Cost: Approximately $700 million
- WEIHE CHEMICAL FERTILIZER PLANT Texaco
Development Corporation (C-613)
The Weihe Chemical Fertilizer Plant, located in the Shaanxi Province of China, will operate under a license from the Texaco
Development Corporation. This gasification plant in the agricultural province of Shaanxi will utilize China's most abundant energy
source, coal, and convert it into much needed fertilizer. The Weihe plant is among eight plants operating in China using Texaco
gasification technology. The first Texaco gasification plant was licensed in 1978.
The Weihe plant will gasify 1300 tons of coal per day to produce ammonia. The ammonia will be used to produce an estimated
520.000 tons per year of urea fertilizer. Fertilizer production is scheduled to begin in 1996.
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995