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Date: February 18, 2009
Vol.:XII, No.4
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TOP STORIES

Indiana Gasification SNG Plan Revives in State Legislature

UK Govt. OK’s Powerfuel IGCC Project

India President Unveils Giant CTL Project

Southeast Idaho Energy Wins Key Permit for Gasification-Fertilizer Project

Gasification Incentives Survive in U.S. Economic Stimulus Bill

Covanta, Wheelabrator Announce New WTE Projects; Emissions Seen Vastly Improving

New Orleans Could Host Big Gasification-Based WTE Plant

Lower-Cost WTE Gasification System Nears Debut

INTEGRATED GASIFICATION COMBINED CYCLE NEWS

India IGCC Plant Seen Tripped Up Over Intellectual Property

If CCS Excluded, Then LNG Looks Better Than IGCC on GHG

GAS TO LIQUIDS NEWS

Xtract Sells Shares in GTL Developer MEO

Algeria’s Khelili Still Appears Bearish on GTL

COAL TO LIQUIDS NEWS

Australia’s Regal Proposes Underground Coal Liquefaction/Diesel Scheme

World CTL 2009 Conference March 25-27 in Washington, D.C.

Central Petroleum Unveils Potential for 2 Billion Barrels of UCG Liquids in Australia

CARBON STORAGE

Alt-Fuel, RFS, CO2-Tax Mandates Flop: Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Seen Better

U.S. EPA Chief Reverses Former Administrator on CO2 from Power Plants

CCS Tests Start in Virginia Coal Seams

IN OTHER SECTORS

Queensland OK’s UCG, Coal-Seam Methane Projects

BCG/Thornton Win UK’s 1st UCG License

Energos Praises UK Legislation Favoring Gasification-Based WTE

Rocketdyne, AERI Team-Up on Oil-Sands Petcoke Gasification

AFC Inks Fuel-Cell Deal with Gasification-Based Waste2Tricity

Big Coal Gasification-to-Urea Project Seen Coming to Australia

News briefs

EU Commission Cites Study Favoring Waste-to-Energy

Dakota Gasification Pays U.S. DOE $57 Million under Revenue Deal

The Year in Prices: 2008

 

 

Indiana Gasification SNG Plan Revives in State Legislature

The Indiana Gasification substitute synthetic natural gas project – earlier considered dead because of a failure to cut offtake deals with Vectren Corp. and Northern Indiana Public Service – may get new life under a bill pending in the Indiana state legislature.

        Indiana Gasification, led by a trio of investors including Leucadia National, E3 Gasification and Johnson & Associates, pulled its pending application before the Indiana Regulatory Utility Commission in December when offtake agreements couldn’t be finalized.

 

 

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UK Govt. OK’s Powerfuel IGCC Project

The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change announced Feb. 5 that Powerfuel’s proposed 900 MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant at Hatfield won permission for construction.

        Energy and Climate Change Minister Mike O'Brien explained that the Hatfield plant, like two other plants just given approval, agreed to “have the necessary land available to retrofit a carbon capture and storage plant for future use.”

 

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India President Unveils Giant CTL Project

India’s President Pratibha Patil revealed Feb. 12 in a speech in Parliament that the government is about to announce awarding of approval for an 80,000 barrels/day coal-to-liquids plant.

        The estimated U.S. $6-8 billion project aims to cut India’s dependence upon foreign oil imports, she said.

 

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Southeast Idaho Energy Wins Key Permit for Gasification-Fertilizer Project

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality last week issued a final permit allowing Southeast Idaho Energy (SIE) to build a coal/coke gasification plant that would produce fertilizers.

        The permit allows SIE “to produce nitrogenous fertilizers and elemental sulfur” at the Power County Advanced Energy Center.

 

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Gasification Incentives Survive in U.S. Economic Stimulus Bill

U.S. President Barack Obama on Feb. 17 signed a massive $790 billion economic stimulus law, with some provisions favoring gasification.

        The bill includes $3.4 billion for development of advanced clean coal technologies, “including slightly more than $1.5 billion to support a range of industrial carbon capture and energy efficiency improvement projects,” the National Mining Association noted in a summary.

“The bill includes $1 billion to support fossil energy research projects, such as those capable of capturing and storing a high percentage of carbon dioxide emissions, one example being the proposed FutureGen [IGCC] project in Mattoon, Ill.”

 

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Covanta, Wheelabrator Announce New WTE Projects; Emissions Seen Vastly Improving

While gasification-based waste-to-energy (WTE) projects may be grabbing the headlines in recent months, two of the world’s biggest WTE veterans – both using mass-burn (combustion) rather than gasification – have big new plant projects to brag about.

        On Feb. 2, Covanta Energy announced a proposed $575 million, 70 MW WTE plant in Wales, U.K., which would supply electricity for up to 180,000 homes, while slashing the need for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills.

The new Covanta plant would be on an existing railway line that will link it to rail-operated waste transfer stations across Wales.

 

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New Orleans Could Host Big Gasification-Based WTE Plant

New Orleans could become the site of one of the biggest gasification-based waste-to-energy (WTE) projects ever built.

        Sun Energy Group is in negotiations to acquire a site along the Industrial Canal for a proposed 104 MW plant that would employ the Westinghouse Plasma/Alter NRG technology. A key vote on the project is expected next month.

        In an exclusive interview with Gasification News, Sun Energy CEO D’Juan Hernandez told us that his company already has a letter of intent on the proposed site and is negotiating with the Port of New Orleans over terms of the acquisition.

 

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Lower-Cost WTE Gasification System Nears Debut

Virginia-based waste-to-energy developer Recovered Energy Resources (RER) sees new opportunities arising for its novel gasification-based technology package.

        In an exclusive interview with Gasification News, RER CEO Brad Schneider explained the concept, including the reasons why three Michigan counties (Montmorency-Oscoda-Alpena Solid Waste Authority) are now considering RER’s proposed municipal solid waste project.

The approximately $25 million project, if built, would gasify about 160 tons of MSW per day, with a gross power output of about approximately 4.7 MW and potential to increase that to around 6 MW.

 

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India IGCC Plant Seen Tripped Up Over Intellectual Property

State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and coal-fired power producer NTPC reportedly have stumbled over a plan to build an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in India.

        According to a report from Hindustan Times, the would-be IGCC partners are in a dispute over intellectual property rights involved in the project.

 

 

MORE HEADLINES


If CCS Excluded, Then LNG Looks Better Than IGCC on GHG

 

 

Xtract Sells Shares in GTL Developer MEO

        Xtract Energy announced Feb. 11 that it has sold shares in fellow Australian energy company MEO, developer of planned gas-to-liquids projects.

        Xtract said it sold 8.4 million shares, worth A$1.8 million, “to support the growth of the other investments within the company's portfolio and provide working capital.”

 

 

MORE HEADLINES


Algeria’s Khelili Still Appears Bearish on GTL

 

 

Australia’s Regal Proposes Underground Coal Liquefaction/Diesel Scheme

West Perth, Australia-based Regal Resources this month revealed a proposed scheme that would use a relatively cheap chemical process to liquefy coal underground, and then convert the liquids to diesel fuel.

        In a letter to shareholders, Regal Resources said that at a shareholder meeting scheduled for Feb. 27, it will seek approval to acquire 100% of Western Victorian Energy Pty Ltd (WVE), and for WVE to acquire up to 70% of the total shareholding in Magma Oil Pty Ltd.

 

 

MORE HEADLINES


World CTL 2009 Conference March 25-27 in Washington, D.C.

Central Petroleum Unveils Potential for 2 Billion Barrels of UCG Liquids in Australia

Alt-Fuel, RFS, CO2-Tax Mandates Flop: Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Seen Better

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) hails a new study by University of California-Davis’s Institute of Transportation Studies researchers Dan Sperling and Sonia Yeh that shows alternative-fuels mandate schemes, and CO2 trading or taxing schemes, are a big flop.

        As CARB summarizes the study, “Sperling and Yeh show why California’s proposed LCFS [low-carbon fuel standard] should be successful where other programs have failed.”

        California should know, from its disastrous experience with methanol car mandates. But ironically, California regulators still haven’t owned-up yet to the economic flop of compressed natural gas, electric car or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle mandate schemes.

 

 

MORE HEADLINES


U.S. EPA Chief Reverses Former Administrator on CO2 from Power Plants

CCS Tests Start in Virginia Coal Seams

Queensland OK’s UCG, Coal-Seam Methane Projects

Coal seam methane gas and underground coal gasification (UCG) can be in conflict if co-located in the same coal seam, but Queensland’s Ministry of Mines & Energy on Feb. 18 announced a compromise deal allowing three UCG trial projects to move forward.

        The Australian mining group, Queensland Resource Council (QRC), praised the new agreement.

 

 

MORE HEADLINES


BCG/Thornton Win UK’s 1st UCG License

Energos Praises UK Legislation Favoring Gasification-Based WTE

Rocketdyne, AERI Team-Up on Oil-Sands Petcoke Gasification

AFC Inks Fuel-Cell Deal with Gasification-Based Waste2Tricity

Big Coal Gasification-to-Urea Project Seen Coming to Australia

News briefs

EU Commission Cites Study Favoring Waste-to-Energy

Dakota Gasification Pays U.S. DOE $57 Million under Revenue Deal

The Year in Prices: 2008

 

 

 

 

 

   














 

 

 
 
 

 

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