A joint project between the UQ Energy Initiative, Princeton Environmental Institute, Southern Company and WorleyParsons Engineering has recently been awarded funding by The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) – part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The overall objective of the project is to advance the deployment of coal-to-liquid (CTL) plants that can produce commercially-viable quantities of jet fuel with green house gas intensity less than that of conventional oil derived fuel.
The project will design and evaluate the cost-competitiveness of a commercial-scale integrated facility in southern Mississippi. By exploring the co-gasification of coal and woody biomass, and conditioning of the produced syngas, it is expected that (a) the syngas will be refined to produce jet fuel; (b) the gases from the refining process will be used in a combined cycle power plant to generate electricity (both for on-site requirements and on-selling); and (c) the captured CO2 will be sold to Enhanced Oil Recovery markets.
The two-year project will expand the current level of understanding around the challenge of producing cost-competitive coal-to-liquid jet fuels. Moreover, it is expected that opportunities may be identified for minimizing required incentives for first-of-a-kind facilities, perhaps ultimately eliminating the need for them in future coal-to-liquid deployments.
UQ’s Professor Chris Greig will play a key role drawing on his industry experience leading early-mover energy projects to provide critical expertise in project design, financial assessment and commercialization analysis.
