Ohio-Based Military, Energy Experts Trying to Develop Liquid From Solid Coal
Posted on: Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 00:00 CST
By Timothy R. Gaffney, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Feb. 4--WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE -- Ohio coal one day will power Air Force jets and Army tanks if an Ohio-based research initiative succeeds.
Federal, state and industry energy experts here are exploring how the military can develop a process that produces a liquid, diesel-type fuel from coal, Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association, said Friday. Wright-Patterson hosted a meeting on the topic Thursday.
Spurring the effort is the White House's new interest in kicking what President Bush has called a national oil addiction.
The Defense Department is also cranking up a program that seeks to produce transportation fuels from domestic coal and oil-shale reserves. It would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil -- much of which comes from the unstable Middle East.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq and insurgent attacks have hobbled oil production in that country, and tensions are growing over oil-rich Iran's interest in nuclear technology -- for weapons as well as power, some fear.
The major focus of Thursday's meeting was the production of jet fuel, according to Larine Barr, spokeswoman for the Air Force Research Laboratory.
AFRL, the Air Force's $3 billion research and development arm, has its headquarters and five research directorates at Wright-Patterson. Its Propulsion Directorate, also here, leads Air Force research on advanced fuels and other aerospace power technology.
The meeting included various representatives from Ohio government, industry, and universities as well as the Air Force, Army and Energy departments, Barr said.
The new fuels would create a new market for Ohio coal, and Ohio's coal fields meet the military need for an assured supply, Carey said.
The key to the program is a coal-to-liquid technology called the Fischer-Tropsch process. The process has been known since the 1920s, but until now the coal industry lacked the economic incentive to develop it, Carey said.
That's changing. Coal refineries can produce fuel for about $35 a barrel, which means they become competitive as long as oil costs more, according to a coal association report.
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Source: Dayton Daily News
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