CoalTek Tour in Calvert City Shows off new Technology

Sometimes the most interesting technology is going on right in your back yard and you don't even know it.

 

I went with several state legislators on a tour of a coal processing and blending facility, CoalTek, in Calvert City Kentucky, which produces cleaner and more efficient coal for power plants and other end users.  It's the only facility of its kind in the world.

 

The coal arrives by rail, is crushed for some applications, and then processed by a large microwave oven and formed into briquettes (again, for certain applications). The processed coal has up to 40% more energy per unit of weight than the raw coal.  They blend several different types of coal together to reduce the amount of sulfur and other environmental constituents found in Eastern Kentucky coal, for example by blending it with processed Powder River Basin coal from out west, which is low in sulfur. 

 

The technology is scalable and flexible in terms of location. It can be easily placed at the mouth of a mine or at the generator.  Because it is a microwave, it is a very efficient process, but certainly the power used in the process is something to consider. There are two main advantages to the process.

 

1) It produces coal with less moisture at consistent levels, which increases the efficiency of producing the energy and means power plants don't have to continually adjust for disparate ranges in moisture in the coal during the process, thereby increasing the efficiencies of the parasitic processes required to make run the generator.

 

2) By increasing the BTU capacity from around 8,500 BTU's to 11,200 BTU's, the power plant has the option to burn 30% less coal to produce the same power.  

 

That's good news for both the power-producing plants and consumers.

 

While this technology can be used to upgrade low energy Western coals, it can (and is) also applied to a broad range of other fuels to achieve targeted improvements in energy efficiency, environmental quality, handling quality, etc.  CoalTek is also working on projects to improve the quality of locally available waste coal fines, to solve the coal ash/waste slurry impoundments issues, and upgrading a variety of coals used in the steel manufacturing process (anthracite, metallurgical coal). For more information you can contact Rolando Sanz-Guerrero at rsg@coaltek.com. Rolando is CoalTek's VP of Marketing and will be able to answer more detail questions about CoalTek and its technology.

What is Carbon Sequestration?

The “signature issue” of our time is requiring the private sector, public policy makers, government research programs and individuals to look at the issue from a different perspective. Today at the NCSL conference in Philadelphia there was a forum dedicated entirely to the issue of carbon sequestration.  Unlike so many terms used today, this actually says pretty much exactly what it is. Basically, you capture the carbon that is a by-product of burning coal, contain it, and then inject it into the ground. Okay the ground is a loose term. Actually the idea is to inject the CO2 safely and economically into geologic formations far below the earth’s surface, which will be used as a large permanent storage facility.

 

So why is this important? Well, it is widely believed that carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the global climate change. While there is still discussion around this issue and the contribution human advancement has played, it is clear that this is going to be addressed by policy makers.

 

Today, the discussion at NCSL centered on the development and regulation of this technology. The U.S.  Department of Energy, the Office of Fossil  Energy and the National  Energy Technology Laboratory have been working on the development and deployment of this CO2 solution. In addition, private concerns and universities are devoting research dollars and time to the development of this technology. Why? To ensure the future of fossil fuels as an energy source.

 

The Department of Energy has been working on this initiative since 1997 and today said that based on the progress they are making with projects across the country they believe the technology will be available for commercial deployment by 2020. By 2020? Wait a minute, Congress is considering “cap and trade” legislation today. While the implementation date is still a moving target most believe if the legislation is passed Kentucky consumers will have to buy credits, expensive credits, long before 2020.  This means that the cost of consuming coal-based electricity will have to increase and the increase will be significant. That is the purpose of “cap and trade”, create an economic disincentive to use carbon-based fuels.

 

Many of the supporters of “cap and trade” come from states that have abundant non-carbon based electricity. For example, hydro power and nuclear are non-carbon based sources of electricity. States like New York, Oregon, California and Idaho will actually make money on the “cap and trade” program. That means while Kentucky consumers’ electricity bills increase, there will be a transfer of wealth to other states. New York, California and other states will see a big influx of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio’s money in order to facilitate those decreases.

 

So what does all this mean? Well, I will just remind you again that Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, told a congressional committee recently if we do everything in the current “cap and trade” legislation and China and India do nothing there will be no impact on global warming. So for now all we will do is redistribute the wealth and force some large consumers of electricity such as aluminum smelters, steel plants, paper mills and automotive plants to go out of business in Kentucky. And those jobs will move to, probably India and China. And of course, we will see our coalmines reduce production and eventually close.

 

There is still more information to come on this important issue. If you would like to follow me on Twitter you can find me under the user name “melodieshrader”.