Coal


Syngas, fuel cells and CCS – the future for coal?


Post-combustion carbon capture and storage techniques seem to get more attention than separating the carbon dioxide beforehand (pre-combustion) and using the resulting hydrogen to create electricity. Alisa Murphy outlines the approach taken by B9 Coal.


T


he global population is projected to reach nine billion by 2050 and as stan- dards of living rise, so too does energy


consumption. By 2030 the world’s primary energy demand will have risen by 40% and humanity will need the capacity of two Earths to absorb carbon dioxide waste and keep up with natural resource consumption. Renewables have not yet reached the required stage of development to meet growing demand reliably and affordably; a transitional solution that efficiently and cleanly uses our remaining fuel reserves is essential. The energy industry has faced stringent


proposals from governments worldwide since 1990’s KyotoProtocol, ensuring that the industry is legally bound to reduce emissions. The UKgovernment is consulting on Electricity Market Reform (EMR) to secure the supply of reliable, low carbon and afford- able electricity, addressing the coalition’s key target of being ‘the greenest government ever’. The EMR states that the UK’s power mar-


ket, currently dominated by fossil fuels, needs to lead the decarbonisation of the economy. Building on this, the UKCom- mitteeonClimateChange (CCC) recently pro- posed that the power sector should be close to zero carbon by 2030, in order to allowfor the electrification of other sectors such as heat and transport. Fossil fuels have facilitated an impressive


rate of human development, but at the expense of warming and polluting our plan- et. The use of coal as a fuel predates record- ed history and currently accounts for almost half of world primary energy production. Demand is set to increase by around 53%by 2030. The potential for clean coal is something


of an elusive phenomenon, a prospect that many are trying to bring to commercialisa- tion. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has recently gained recognition in policy and technology circles as a key alternative to high-emitting energy generators. This increased profile has been cemented by gov- ernment commitment intheUKandEU,who are currently in advanced stages of develop- ing funding opportunities for these first-of-a- kind power projects. B9 Coal was established in 2009 in London


with the objective of pursuing viable CCS projects whilst simultaneously making a sig- nificant contribution to the creation of a sus-


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tainable energy mix. The company aims to stimulate a reassessment inattitudes towards fossil fuel power generation while exploring the possibility of decoupling coal use and the adverse environmental impacts traditionally associated with it. B9 Coal believes the com- bination of coal gasification and alkaline fuel cells will rapidly allow the generation of low carbon electricity from the world's abundant coal reserves, while minimising environmen- tal impacts and capturing carbon.


Game-changing CCS CCS technology was described by former UK Government Chief ScientificAdvisor SirDavid King as ‘the only hope formankind’ – a state- ment that the energy industry is not taking lightly. The emergence of new technologies such as alkaline fuel cells and underground coal gasification will serve to accelerate the development of truly game-changing CCS projects in the race against climate change. CCS is ameans ofmitigating the contribu-


tion of fossil fuels to globalwarming. Carbon dioxide is captured from fossil fuel power plants and transported by pipeline or ship to be stored in geological structures. The UK government is committed to investment in this technology and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is devel- oping a CCS Roadmap that will set out the timescales on which CCS needs to be deployed in the UKto meet climate change targets. B9 Coal’s fuel cell power stations offer a


CCS-ready solution, as a result of the alkaline fuel cells inclusion in the process. The fuel cells require synthesis gas (syngas) from a gasifier to be separated into pure streams of both hydrogen and carbon dioxide, making it very simple to capture pure carbon dioxide for storage. This solution takes CCS well beyond an expensive retrofit process, offer- ing a commercially attractivemodel.


Spirit of the coal Coal gasification is the reaction of coal with a controlled amount of oxygen and water vapour at high temperatures. The process produces syngas: amixture of hydrogen, car- bon monoxide and carbon dioxide. First dis- covered by the 17th century Flemish scientist Jan Baptista van Helmont, the gas was dubbed the ‘spirit of the coal’ and burnt for domestic illumination. In 1812, the first com- mercial coal gas works was built by the


London andWestminsterGas Light and Coke Company to illuminate the Westminster Bridge celebrations as theNewYear dawned. This coal gas was traditionally referred to as ‘town gas’ for its widespreaduse in towns for street illumination, heating and cooking. Coal gasification has been used on a com-


mercial scale worldwide for more than 35 years by the electric power industry. There are currentlymore than 420 gasifiers operat- ing in some 140 facilities worldwide, with nearly 20 plants operating in the US. China is expected to achieve the most rapid growth in coal gasification, with around 29 newgasi- fication plants licensed and/or built since 2004. The process has a range ofcommercial and


environmental advantages over combustion. Harnessing coal’s energy through gasification is more efficient than conventional combus- tion as the syngas has applications with new, highly efficient technologies. Coal gasifica- tion is also much cleaner as no pollutants (including nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, fine particle pollution, and mercury) or solid impurities (including ash, chloride and potas- sium) are released into the atmosphere. B9 Coal is offering a unique power gener-


ation solution – efficient and scalable coal gasification with fuel cells for electricity and CCS. After gasification, the syngas is put through a three-stage cleanup process com- prising gas water shift, acid gas removal and finally pressure swing absorption. This removes impurities and produces pure hydrogen, used to power the fuel cell, and carbon dioxide which is captured and ready for transport. Alkaline fuel cells are the most efficient method of converting hydrogen into electricity and the pure streamof carbon dioxide is captured at no additional cost. This is a world first combination of technologies, all of which have historical credibility but are now re-emerging as a flagship solution for the future.


Alkaline fuel cell The alkaline fuel cell was first demonstrated by SirWilliam Grove in the 19th century. UK Company AFC Energy has taken this out-of- fashion technology and created a commer- cially viable method for clean power generation. Its fuel cell is low cost, low tem- perature and low pressure. Uniquely, the technology is also fully scalable and modular, giving B9 Coal’smodel the ability to load fol- low to meet peak demand. AFC Energy boasts partners including AkzoNobel, Ineos, Centrica, Air Products, WSP Group and Linc Energy. The technology is gaining momen- tum across a range of markets, including chlor-alkaline, waste-to-energy, clean coal and natural gas. AFC Energy’s technology is focused on


Energy World April 2011


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