CTL process is efficient and environmentally friendly - Chinese industry official
06:25 GMT, Mar 05, 2008
interfax.com
Beijing. November 5. INTERFAX-CHINA - A senior official with China
Shenhua Group said at an industrial forum yesterday in Beijing that the
CTL (coal-to-liquids) process is sufficiently efficient and
environmentally friendly, dismissing comments that such technology
wastes too much energy and hurts the environment.
Wu Xiuzhang, the vice chief engineer at Shenhua Group, said at the
CTLtec Asia 2008 conference that its CTL project, which will have an
annual oil production capacity of 1.08 million tons, will be put into
operation in September.
The CTL project, located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, will
be the first in China.
According to Wu, most of the project's output will be diesel fuel, but
will also include naphtha and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).
Wu said that energy conversion efficiency of CTL processes can reach
59.3 percent, higher than the IGCC (integrated gasification combined
cycle) process, which, he said, is deemed the power generation
technology with the highest energy efficiency.
However, Dr. Gary Kendall with World Wildlife Fund International said at
the same forum that the "mine-to-wheels" efficiency of CTL products is
only 12 percent, while that of IGCC plant is as much as 30 percent.
"Mine to wheels" means the process's total efficiency in converting coal
into liquid fuel for vehicles.
Kendall said that CTL has no place in a responsible energy plan, since
the coal-to-electron for vehicles process can deliver almost three times
as many kilometers as CTL.
Another debate arose at the conference regarding the considerable water
consumption of the CTL process. Wu said that Shenhua Group's CTL project
will consume 8 tons of water for each ton of oil product output, while
the total water consumption for crude oil exploitation and oil refining
processes is 6 tons for each ton of oil product output. Wu said it is
untrue that CTL projects need significantly more water supplies than
other energy development projects, adding that there will be very little
water waste in Shenhua Group's project, since most water will be
re-used.
In addition, Wu said that patty residue from the project will be used as
the feedstock of a power plant.
CTL projects are believed to produce much more carbon dioxide than
conventional crude refining.
According to Wu, 44.61 percent of carbon produced by the feedstock for
this project becomes carbon dioxide, meaning the project will emit 4.16
million tons of carbon dioxide annually, or 3.75 tons for each ton of
oil product output and half a ton for each barrel of oil output.
However, Wu said that over 70 percent of the carbon dioxide output from
this project will have a carbon dioxide concentration as high as 92.15
percent, which means it will be easy to utilize for other purposes. Wu
said Shenhua Group has already initiated talks with West Virginia
University about treatment of carbon dioxide emissions.
In addition, Wu said that because the price of crude oil on the
international market is still at a very high level, Shenhua Group's
project will be profitable. He said it will be economically feasible if
the price of crude oil price stands at over $40 per barrel.
-TW |
