Promising Coal to Liquids Plant in Ohio Gets Clearance -- But Will Obama's New Energy Reich Kill It All The Same?

A promising new coal and biomass to liquids project in Ohio has been cleared by the Ohio EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers. Using a feedstock of 70% coal and 30% biomass, the plant will produce 53,000 barrels of liquid fuels per day.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued the third and final state environmental necessary to the Ohio River Clean Fuels (ORCF) project. Baard Energy will now proceed into final design and construction of the 53,000 barrel per day Coal/Biomass to Liquids plant (CBTL) at the Columbiana County Port Authority site in Wellsville, Ohio. (Earlier post.)

The US Army Corp of Engineers has also issued the only federal permit—the 404 streams and wetlands permit—required for the project.

The Baard project will co-feed the gasifiers with 30% biomass and 70% coal, and capture up to 85% of CO2. ORCF is developing plans to compress the CO2 into liquid form and transport it to the neighboring oil fields in Eastern Ohio for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

...The ORCF plant will utilize just more than 20 million gallons per day of water from the Ohio River. More than 80% of the water used is needed for cooling (non-contact cooling water). More than 70% of the water used will be evaporated in cooling towers. About 7,000 gallons per day will be used by the employees (drinking water, showers and restrooms) and will be returned to the Wellsville waste treatment system. The rest of the water (about 30%) will be cleaned to Ohio EPA standards and returned to the Ohio River.

The plant is targeted to produce 50,000 barrels of FT diesel and natpha per day (16 million barrels per year); 3,000 barrels of FT LGP per day (1 million barrels per year); along with 2,000 GWh per year of baseload generation. _GCC

Such CTL/BTL plants hold enormous promise in utilising plentiful but low-quality coal--along with biomass--while providing an energy bridge to cleaner, more abundant, and more sustainable technologies coming in the next 20 years to 30 years.