News

First IGCC in Japan in Successful Startup (9/26/03)

ChevronTexaco Worldwide Power and Gasification has announced that a 342 megawatt Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant using ChevronTexaco-licensed gasification technology has commenced commercial operation at Nippon Petroleum Refining Company's (NPRC) 340,000 barrel-per-day Negishi Refinery in Yokohama, Japan.

The plant is the first commercial scale IGCC operating in Japan. The feedstock for the IGCC facility is asphalt from the refinery. The linked press release provides additional details.

EPA Working on Final RCRA Refinery Gasification Rule (8/18/03)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste has announced plans to proceed with a final rule excluding from the definition of solid waste oily refinery secondary materials fed to a gasification unit. The recommendation is now at the staff level and must pass through agency reviews before the change to rules under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act can become final. The rule was first proposed in 2002 .

A final rule on a broader exclusion of hazardous secondary materials beyond the refining industry will require additional data on gasification of a wider range of feedstocks. The refinery rule could be finalized within a year, according to EPA staff. The announcement was made at the annual EPA RCRA conference held last week in Washington, DC. Click here for the presentation made by James Childress, Executive Director of the Gasification Technologies Council, at the conference.

ConocoPhillips Acquires E-GAS™ Technology (8/11/03)

ConocoPhillips has completed a transaction with Global Energy Inc. to acquire patents and intellectual property associated with the company's proprietary E-GAS™ technology. Global Energy will retain ownership and operating responsibility for the Wabash River gasification facility. The attached ConocoPhillips press release provides details.

DOE Releases Refinery Gasification Modeling Report (7/28/03)

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory has published "Refinery Technology Profiles: Gasification And Supporting Technologies" the first-ever attempt to provide realistic gasification performance for the Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). The NEMS model is used to provide input into all EIA forecasting, but has been limited to coal gasification until now.

The data and models contained in the report may be used to perform sensitivity analyses on gasification technology within the petroleum refining sector under a range of possible future scenarios. The models can be used to examine a range of gasification technology options for producing hydrogen, power, and steam.

The report includes an overview of refinery gasification and supporting technologies and a description of the methodology used in the analysis. A comparison is provided of this newly developed data with the current performance of the technology and the research goals of DOE's fossil energy programs. The profiles are consistent with existing refinery based gasification plants constructed and operated since 1996.

GTC Members Testify at House Hearing on Future of Coal (6/24/03)

The House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality held a hearing on future options for generation of electricity from coal on June 24. GTC Members testifying included Global Energy ( Dick Olliver , Group Vice President), Eastman Chemical ( Brian Ferguson , Chairman and CEO). Other gasification-related testimony included George Rudins , Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coal & Power Systems, US Department of Energy; Charles Black , VP Energy Supply, Tampa Electric Company; and Hank Courtright , Vice President, Power Generation & Distributed Resources, Electric Power Research Institute.

Growth in Coal Use for Power Generation Continues to Lag (5/23/03)

Growth in power generation in the U.S using coal continued to lag behind natural gas in 2002. While coal-based generation grew by slightly more than 1% over the prior year, natural gas-based power generation rose by 7.5%. Coal-based power generation actually declined between 2000 and 2001 (for the first time since the 1985-86 period) and still had not returned to 2000 levels through last year.

Source: Energy Information Administration

Coal based U.S. power generation for 2002 was approximately 1.94 trillion kilowatthours, natural gas based generation, approximately 0.68 trillion. Data are from the March 2003 Monthly Energy Review of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

DOE Fossil R&D Effort Seen Key to IGCC Deployment (5/21/03)

An analysis prepared by the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory foresees rapid growth in coal-based IGCC capacity if the goals of DOE's R&D programs are met for advanced fossil-fuel electricity generating technologies.

Under the analysis, an alternate case to the 2002 Annual Energy Outlook published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, projected IGCC capacity in the year 2020 would increase by an order of magnitude (62+ gigawatts vs. 6+gigawatts) over the "business as usual" or base case forecast. The results of the study were summarized in a presentation at a workshop held during the Gasification Technologies Council's recent spring meeting.

Odorski Receives First GTC Service Award (5/19/03)

Anthony P. "Tony" Odorski of Air Products and Chemicals was presented with the first GTC service award at the May 8-9 Spring Meeting in South Carolina. He received the award for leading the effort toward the adoption of the widely adopted GTC Guidelines for Reporting Plant Operating Statistics . These guidelines provide more useful comparisons between plants and technologies, and foster a better understanding of gasification in the marketplace.

Liquid Phase Methanol Plant Completes Successful Demonstration Run (5/14/03)

The Liquid Phase Methanol Demonstration Project in Kingsport, Tennessee has successfully completed its operations, reports the U.S. Department of Energy which provided part of the funding for the effort under the Clean Coal Technology Program. The joint effort of Air Products & Chemicals and Eastman Chemical Company completed a 69 month project to demonstrate an advanced method for making methanol from coal.

Eastman has used the methanol as a chemical building block for producing chemicals at its Kingsport plant. During the demonstration period the plant has operated with an on-stream availability of 97.5 percent, using the industry standard "GTC Guidelines for Reporting Operating Statistics" for gasification-based plants.

During its demonstration period the plant produced almost 104 million gallons of methanol, up to 300 tons per day, or 115% of its design capacity.

DOE Requests Information on FutureGen Project (4/21/03)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking comments on its proposed FutureGen "coal based, zero emissions power plant to produce electricity and hydrogen".

A copy of the notice issued in today's Federal Register is attached . In summary the DOE plans to enter into a noncompetitive cooperative agreement with a consortium which "shall collectively own and produce at least one-third of...(the United States')..coal and at least one-fifth of its coal-fueled electricity". The consortium will be required to "use fair and open competition to select the host site; engineering, design and construction services; and major equipment modules."

Additionally, the DOE assumes that the FutureGen project will employ coal gasification technology to co-produce electricity and hydrogen. The size of the plant will nominally be 275 MW equivalent electricity output.

The DOE has indicated the industrial partner cost share for the project will be 20% .

Comment are due no later than June 16, 2003.

GTC Submits Testimony to House of Representatives on DOE Gasification Budget (4/3/03)

The Gasification Technologies Council has submitted testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate calling for restoring important gasification related research, development and demonstration program funding in the Department of Energy's fossil energy program. Key areas addressed in the testimony are basic research on IGCC technologies, turbines, fuels & chemicals, and the Clean Coal Power Initiative demonstration program.

DOE Releases Report on Environmental Aspects of Gasification-Based Power Systems (3/31/03)

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory has released a report, "Major Environmental Aspects of Gasification-Based Power Generation Technologies" ( >9 MB, right-click and save to your computer). The report, prepared by the firm of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) provides a comprehensive reference resource for gasification-based power generation technologies that examines both environmental performance and regulatory topics affecting the siting and operation of commercial plants.

GTC Submits Supplemental Comments to EPA on RCRA Gasification Rule (3/24/03)

The GTC has sent to the U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response supplemental comments to the proposed "RCRA Gasification Rule". The comments rebutted those submitted in late 2002 by the Environmental Technology Council (ETC) and the Sierra Club Lone Star chapter.

The technical comments of both the ETC and the Sierra Club relied heavily on a multi-client report, "Pyrolysis & Gasification of Waste: A Worldwide Technology & Business Review", prepared by Juniper Consultancy Services Ltd., a recognized expert in the fields of conventional combustion technologies, pyrolysis and gasification processes.

The GTC subsequently retained the services of Juniper as an independent third party to review those portions of the comments of ETC and Sierra Club that relied upon the Juniper report and to characterize the accuracy and relevance of the manner in which the two organizations used Juniper citations in their comments placed in this docket. (See the Juniper point-by-point response to the ETC/Sierra Club comments.)

In his letter to the EPA, GTC Executive Director James Childress noted that, "The misuse of the Juniper Report by the ETC and Sierra Club represents either a deliberate attempt to mislead or a misunderstanding of gasification that is so profound that the entirety of their comments of a technical nature should be called into serious question."

Eastman Signs Gasification Services Agreement with ChevronTexaco (1/23/2003)

Eastman Chemical Company and Texaco Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChevronTexaco Corporation have signed a cooperative agreement , that enables Eastman to provide operation, maintenance, management and technical services, as well as parts fabrication and sales for gasification plants of Texaco Development licensees.

WMPI Chosen for CCPI Coal to Liquids Project (1/15/03)

Waste Management and Processors Inc. has been chosen to build one of the first eight projects designated by the Department of Energy in the initial phase of President Bush's Clean Coal Power Initiative. The plant will produce nearly 5000 barrels per day of clean-burning diesel fuel and power from raw anthracite wastes. Planned for a 75-acre site adjacent to the existing Gilberton Power plant, the $612 million project is the largest of the eight projects selected. The Energy Department's share is proposed at $100 million. Top of the page