Planned Oakland coal plant sees FutureGen benefit
Saturday, December 22, 2007 1:19 AM CST
jg-tc.com
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
OAKLAND — The announcement that FutureGen will come to Mattoon was welcome news for the developer of a comparable coal-fueled facility planned for the Oakland area.
American Clean Coal Fuels Director Stephen Johnson has planned for more than a year to build a coal-to-synthetic transportation fuel plant near Oakland. Like FutureGen, this plant is slated to use gasification technology and to sequester the resulting carbon dioxide.
Johnson said it was gratifying to see the FutureGen Alliance examine sites throughout the country and, like his company, conclude that east central Illinois is the best location for such a facility.
The location of the two plants will result in the Coles County area becoming an “industry cluster” for energy development, Johnson said.
Both the FutureGen Alliance and American Clean Coal Fuels, based in Portland, Ore., have reported their plants could go online by 2012. Johnson said the tandem development will create a large demand for contractors and lodging for them.
“That is certainly going to be one of the large logistical challenges of our construction project,” Johnson said. “There is absolutely nothing there that is not surmountable.”
FutureGen is aimed at designing and testing technology to turn coal into gas that can be stripped of hydrogen, which would then be burned to produce electricity.
Johnson said there could be possible “synergies” between the two projects. For example, he said contractors may be able to build comparable equipment at one plant and then the other while they are in the area.
The coal-to-synthetic transportation fuel plant’s front-end processing equipment will be different from FutureGen in that it will handle both coal and biomass, which will be blended into the final product.
Johnson said the biomass, likely drawn from municipal sewage initially, will be a small part of the fuel at first. He said coal will provide a bridge to developing a fuel that will hopefully someday be made from 100-percent biomass, possibly harvested from a switch grass-like crop.
“Our intention is to try and be the first producer in the United States, if not the world, that is producing carbon neutral diesel fuel and jet fuel,” Johnson said.
Biomass will provide a renewable fuel source that does not deplete like fossil fuels, he said.
“We need to transition over to other fuel sources to run our economy,” Johnson said.
The Oakland plant is slated to obtain its coal from a mine that will be developed nearby through an agreement with the Embarras Valley Coal Association. With a dedicated supply, Johnson said the plant will not compete with FutureGen for coal.
Johnson said carbon dioxide that is created by the plant’s processing will be converted into liquid form and sent out via pipeline for use by oil well owners. He said this liquid can be pumped into the wells to displace hard-too-recover oil deposits.
The oil can then be pumped to the surface while the liquid carbon dioxide is naturally sequestered by the geological formations that kept the oil in place, Johnson said.
If oil well recovery is not feasible in the long run, Johnson said the plant may follow FutureGen’s example by injecting the liquid carbon dioxide thousands of feet underground for storage.
American Clean Coal Fuel’s plant would reportedly process about 4.3 million tons of coal per year, and biomass, into 400 million gallons of biodegradable synthetic transportation fuel.
The company reports the plant and mine would create 2,500 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs. Johnson said he hopes to start the state permitting process for the plant and mine in late March.
FutureGen would reportedly create 1,300 construction jobs and 150 plant operation positions. Both plants could spur the development of related businesses and employment opportunities.
Oakland Mayor Sharon Houchin said the coal-to-transportation fuel plant will present some infrastructure challenges for Oakland, but also many opportunities.
Houchin said it is likely that many workers at this plant and its mine, and possibly some from FutureGen, will choose to live in Oakland. She said Oakland offers a small-town atmosphere with a golf course, public swimming pool, and other amenities in town.
“When you have got that many people, you have to find places for them to live,” Houchin said. This influx will enlarge Oakland’s property tax base and school district enrollment, she added.
For more information on American Clean Coal Fuels, visit cleancoalfuels.com.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734. |
