China Fast Forward by Bill Dodson

Author:Bill Dodson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published: 2012-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

Cleaning Up Coal’s Act

The head of the Clean Air Task Force in China, Ming Sung, cited in 2010, “There are ways to generate electricity from coal with pretty much zero emissions.” Sung helped design Shell Oil’s first coal gasification plant in the United States in the 1980s. He explained the key to cleaning coal was to turn it into a gas first. “Make coal into a gas, either above ground—which is a traditional coal gasification technology. Or you can go underground. It’s very efficient, and very low-cost. And that is the technology I feel will change the landscape,” Sung added.24 The United States was the leader in Coal to Liquid (CTL) research in the 1970s and 1980s until oil prices became so low as to make research efforts into alternative energy peripheral to the United States economic growth. At the turn of the century Made-in-America expertise migrated to China to carry forward research into and application of the technology.

China and the United States at national levels of government and in academic circles have realized the need to cooperate to reduce the dirty effects of coal. While not necessarily addressing the consumption and efficiency issues underlying the countries’ addiction to coal, efforts began as early as 2004 to find economical ways to “gasify” coal. Gasification—also known as coal liquefaction—produces jet fuel, diesel, oil and gasoline, as well as carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 can be used in a range of products from injecting soda pop with bubbles to the production of ceramic tiles. Joint venture projects between China and the United States have been exploring CO2 sequestration since 2005. Sequestration involves injecting the CO2 into the ground—perhaps even into retired coal mines. For every ton of coal processed nearly a ton of CO2 is produced, making sequestration a viable alternative to releasing the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere to contribute to climate change phenomena.

One such consortium between China and the United States involved West Virginia University (WVU). The institution worked with the Shenhua Direct Coal Liquefaction (DCL) facilities in Shanghai and Inner Mongolia.25 The joint venture was underwritten by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the United States Department of Energy. WVU was also working with the Chinese on an environmental and economic analysis of the Shenhua DCL plant. The university was also investigating CO2 sequestration processes related to the Shenhua DCL plant. Integrated DCL and ICL (indirect coal liquefaction) processes, liquefaction fuel testing, and other activities also held the institution’s interest. The pilot projects demonstrated the feasibility of solid waste recycling, CO2 sequestration, and zero water discharge.

Another effort involved The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a Department of Energy facility, based in Washington state. PNNL worked with scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to assess the viability of carbon dioxide sequestration underground in China.26A PNNL study found that China has enough underground capacity to sequester CO2 for a century. Results also showed most of the potential repositories within 100 miles of major users of coal. Power generators,

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