Coal gasification converts solid coal to purified carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, which is called synthesis gas or syngas.
-- The process involves pressure and heat applied to coal and steam to create crude syngas, which is then cleaned of impurities.
-- The resulting syngas can be used to fuel power plants, or it can be converted to gasoline and diesel for use in cars.
-- Advantages of coal gasification are a fuel that is clean-burning and an energy conversion that is more efficient than direct combustion of coal.
-- Coal methanation is a process similar to gasification that, instead, produces natural gas or methane.
-- CO2 is a byproduct of coal gasification.
-- The energy industry has long been required to remove pollutants such as sulfur oxides and mercury under the Clean Air Act, but not CO2.
-- CO2 capture and sequestration has been proposed as a way to mitigate the accumulation of greenhouse gases CO2 that are released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels that may contribute to global warming.
-- Carbon sequestration uses biological, chemical, or physical processes to remove industrially produced CO2 and to store it in aging oil and gas fields, subsurface saline aquifers, ocean water, or other sinks.
-- The CO2 can also be used for enhanced oil recovery.
Posted on Monday, April 27, 2009