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Consol Energy, SES Form JV to Develop Coal Gasification Plant in West Virginia

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 09:00 CDT

Consol Energy, a US-based bituminous coal producer, and Synthesis Energy Systems, an industrial gasification company, have formed the Northern Appalachia Fuel joint venture to develop their first coal gasification and liquefaction plant in West Virginia, US.

The board of directors of Consol Energy and Synthesis Energy Systems (SES) have authorized funds for development activities, including the front-end engineering design (FEED) package.

Each member company will contribute equally to this phase of the project. Northern Appalachia Fuel (NAF) is finalizing agreements with Aker Solutions US to perform the FEED activities.

The FEED stage will include a carbon management strategy that will focus on carbon sequestration in a deep saline aquifer. At a later date, NAF will file for environmental and other permits necessary for the construction of the plant.

Consol and SES propose to site the plant near Benwood, West Virginia. It is expected that the plant will be a mine-mouth facility with feedstock supplied directly from Consol's nearby Shoemaker complex. The feedstock will be a blend of run of mine coal and coal otherwise not recovered in the normal preparation process.

Coal will be converted to syngas utilizing SES's proprietary U-Gas technology. It is expected that the syngas will be used to produce approximately 720,000 metric tons per year of methanol that can be used as a feedstock for the chemical industry. It is also expected that the project will be capable of converting methanol production to approximately 100 million gallons per year of 87 octane gasoline.

NAF is also negotiating with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering to license its proprietary methanol-to-gasoline technology. As envisioned, the project will include a river terminal facility, where products will be stored in tanks for off-loading into barges for ultimate delivery.

Source: Datamonitor

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