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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gasification Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (460)	7/12/2006 11:06:24 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Lurgi presentation on synthetic fuels given at a press conference November 30th, 2005 geagroup.com Link courtesy of star_hominid

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (460)	12/2/2007 2:55:46 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Coal-based fuel plant proposed for Butte; Schweitzer says many hurdles remain By JOHN ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau greatfallstribune.com HELENA — A Florida man is the latest to enter the sweepstakes to develop Montana's first so-called "clean and green" coal-powered fuel plant, pitching a new twist to the coal-to-liquids idea at the Capitol on Friday. William Bruce, president of EcoSphere Energy of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., said he wants to build a 160- to 170-megawatt plant in Butte that would be "the most environmentally friendly coal plant that has ever been built." He plans to do that by turning coal into electricity, ethanol and biodiesel with a little help from a 130-acre algae farm. Bruce's proposal calls for a plant that would first turn coal into synthetic natural gas, or syngas. About 92 percent of that gas would be used to power electrical generators, he said. The other 8 percent would be used in a thermo-chemical process that converts the gas into ethanol. It's the third process that is, in the truest sense of the word, green. Bruce said the plant would pump at least 50 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by the plant into a 130-acre "algae farm," where microscopic organisms would consume the greenhouse gas as they grow. The algae then would be harvested, and the oils extracted and used to produce biodiesel. "This is cutting-edge stuff," he said in an interview following the meeting. "This plant would produce close to 60 percent less carbon dioxide than a conventional pulverized coal plant and about 10 percent fewer emissions than a natural gas plant." The emissions that aren't fed to the algae would be released into the atmosphere, Bruce said. He pitched his idea in a Friday afternoon meeting with Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Secretary of State Brad Johnson and aides from both offices. "This is a project we've been working on for about two years with Mr. Bruce's company," said Johnson's spokesman, Bowen Greenwood. According to Greenwood, Johnson, who also sits on the state Land Board, met Bruce through a friend two years ago. "Brad immediately recognized the potential of the technology that EcoSphere was working on." Greenwood said Johnson urged Bruce to look into coal from the state-owned Otter Creek coal tracts as fuel for the new plant. That coal, Greenwood said, has the ideal moisture content for the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle process Bruce proposed. After about 18 months of researching Montana coal, transmission systems and possible locations for the plant, Bruce said the time was right to pitch the idea to the governor's office. "I was glad to see the bipartisanship," Bruce said. "From a businessman's perspective, it looks like there's good cooperation there." Johnson is a Republican and Schweitzer is a Democrat. Bruce said the first major hurdle to building the plant is finding a buyer for the 160 to 170 megawatts of electricity the plant would produce. Schweitzer appeared enthusiastic about Bruce's plan during the meeting, directing his staff to help Bruce navigate the sighting and permitting processes. He was more reserved after the meeting. "There has to be a lot of moving pieces that come together to make a project like this a reality," Schweitzer said. "We do the work and we try and get business investment in Montana. At the end of the day, about one out of 100 will kick in."