ENHANCED HYDROGEN ECONOMICS VIA COPRODUCTION OF FUELS AND CARBON PRODUCTS

This Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory sponsored research effort to develop environmentally cleaner projects as a spin-off of the FutureGen project, which seeks to reduce or eliminate emissions from plants that utilize coal for power or hydrogen production. New clean coal conversion processes were designed and tested for coproducing clean pitches and cokes used in the metals industry as well as a heavy crude oil. These new processes were based on direct liquefaction and pyrolysis techniques that liberate volatile liquids from coal without the need for high pressure or on-site gaseous hydrogen. As a result of the research, a commercial scale plant for the production of synthetic foundry coke has broken ground near Wise, Virginia under the auspices of Carbonite Inc. This plant will produce foundry coke by pyrolyzing a blend of steam coal feedstocks. A second plant is planned by Quantex Energy Inc (in Texas) which will use solvent extraction to coproduce a coke residue as well as crude oil. A third plant is being actively considered for Kingsport, Tennessee, pending a favorable resolution of regulatory issues