Friday, July 23, 2010

Coal Gasification Plant to be Built Near Odessa, TX

The new polygeneration IGCC project will use coal as its feedstock. With a gross capacity of 400 megawatt (MWe), the plant will also produce urea for the U.S. fertilizer market. With a carbon capture rate of 90 percent, the plant will have one of the highest carbon capture rates of any IGCC plant in the world. The CO2 will be used for enhanced oil recovery in the West _Thomasnet
The Texas Clean Energy Project will combine Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology for efficient energy production from coal, with co-products of urea (for agricultural fertilisation) and CO2 (for oil well enhanced recovery).
The Texas Clean Energy Project will be located in Penwell, near Odessa, Texas. Siemens will deliver the gasification island technology, which will include two SFG-500 gasifiers. The power block will be based on an SGT6-5000F gas turbine modified to operate on high H2 syngas, which will allow the plant to have a very high carbon capture rate of about three million tons/year. The power block will also include a Siemens SST-900RH steam turbine, air-cooled generators and SPPA-T3000 controls.

...IGCC technology is part of Siemens' Environmental Portfolio. In fiscal 2009, revenue from the Portfolio totaled about EUR23 billion, making Siemens the world's largest supplier of ecofriendly technologies. In the same period, the company's products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their CO2 emissions by 210 million tons. This amount equals the combined annual CO2 emissions of New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin. _Thomasnet
IGCC technology is more efficient because it combines gas turbine cycle and steam turbine cycle to capture more energy from the coal. Capturing the CO2 for productive use -- enhanced oil recovery -- is far preferable to mere sequestration, which is wasteful of energy, money, time, and CO2.

As long as the effluent of a coal power plant is just steam and CO2, there is no need for further "cleanup" of the effluent. Most of Earth life evolved at times when atmospheric CO2 was much higher than at present. Most Earth life is literally "starving for CO2." Nature will welcome the additional CO2, if humans have no use for it.

Labels:

2 Comments:

Blogger stagga said...

What an utterly ridiculous statement that "plants are starving for carbon dioxide", and that "nature will welcome the CO2". This shows a complete lack of understanding of plant functioning and the effects of carbon dioxide fertilisation, and totally fails to recognise the system wide impacts of any such activity. What a joke - "As long as the effluent is steam" - which is wasted heat energy, "and CO2" with clearly defined impacts on the stability of the global climate with potential impacts on millions of the worlds most deprived communities....need I say anymore. Your statements are nothing less than foolish and I would argue selfish.

5:43 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

For the last 50 years I have listened to the doomsday profits and the save the earth campaigners and have come to the realization that the "benjamins" of the world need a cause that they can take on faith. Science has nothing to do with their position. They jump on the band wagon to stir the masses and create new laws, never looking back to see if they have done good or harm. If the theory is wrong, we are left with a bunch of useless or harmful rules, and benjamin will move on to the next imaginary crisis. A little over 20 years ago the prevalent theory was that we were headed back into another ice age. It turns out lead was not what was killing ducks, DDT was not affecting eagle eggs, the hole in the ozone is a natural phenomenon, apparently in existence since prehistoric times- does anyone spend any effort informing the public- “No”, does anyone repeal the rules that were based on a bad theory “Not even if they harm the environment”
CO2 is basic / essential to life on earth. Global warming as a result of human activity is only a theory, and a not well supported theory at that.

12:44 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts