When it comes to coal being king, that's all in the past. Gone are the days when miners sang, "We owe our souls to the company store." However, "clean" coal may yet become a prince because the future is now when it comes to an emissions-free clean coal system. And the FutureGen project, although experimental, has the potential to be that big positive change the coal industry hasn't seen in decades.

According to Dr. Victor Der, director of the Office of Clean Energy Systems in the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Fossil Energy, his job is to manage the clean coal power and environmental systems research and the large-scale clean coal demonstration program called the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). The CCPI is a government/industry cost-shared program to demonstrate advanced technologies that will allow coal to be used more efficiently and cleanly—ultimately with little or no emissions. Also the program director for the FutureGen research project, Der has worked in the department for over 30 years and is an engineer by training.

"FutureGen is a new, experimental project that could create an emissions-free clean coal system," Der says. "The FutureGen initiative was announced by President Bush on February 27, 2003, as a cost-shared partnership between the federal government and an alliance of coal-utility and coal-producing companies in an effort to build the world's first zero-emission coal gasification power plant. Its total cost is estimated at about $950 million, with $250 million of that requested from the private sector."

The FutureGen plant is planned to operate as a nominal 275-MW (net equivalent output) facility that produces both electricity and hydrogen and sequesters 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The FutureGen project will employ advanced generation coal gasification technology integrated with combined cycle electricity generation, hydrogen production, and capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide. Der notes the overall project objectives:

• Establish technical feasibility and economic viability of producing electricity and hydrogen from coal with near-zero emissions (including carbon dioxide)
• Verify sustained, integrated operation of a coal conversion system with carbon sequestration
• Verify effectiveness, safety, and permanence of carbon sequestration
• Establish standardized technologies and protocols for carbon dioxide measurement, monitoring, and verification
• Gain acceptance by the coal and electricity industries, environmental community, international community, and public-at-large for the concept of coal-based systems with near-zero carbon emissions through the successful operation of FutureGen

To prove viability, sequestration technology must be tested and validated on a meaningfully large scale under real-world conditions and integrated with a power plant facility. "This requires the operation of a large-scale facility using cutting-edge technologies to produce electricity and hydrogen, integrated with carbon dioxide capture and sequestration," Der notes. "The FutureGen facility will be operated by the companies in the industry alliance who will be the ultimate users and replicaters of this technology."

According to a press release put out by Battelle, a Columbus, OH–based nonprofit research and development institution coordinating the formation of the alliance, nine of the nation's largest electric utilities and coal companies formed the alliance on April 22, 2003. The working group of companies in the alliance are American Electric Power (AEP), CONSOL Energy Inc., Kennecott Energy (a member of the Rio Tinto group), The North American Coal Corp., PacifiCorp (a subsidiary of ScottishPower), Peabody Energy, RAG American Coal Holding Inc., Southern Company, and TXU.

CONSOL Energy Inc. is the largest producer of high-Btu bituminous coal in the US and the company is the largest exporter of US coal. CONSOL has 20 bituminous coal mining complexes in seven states and Australia. The company also produces electricity from coal-bed methane at a joint-venture generating facility in Virginia.

Based in Dallas, TX, The North American Coal Corp. is a subsidiary of NACCO Industries Inc. and is engaged in the acquisition, mining, and marketing of coal used in electric utilities for power generation. North American Coal also provides dragline mining services for a lime rock quarry in Florida.

PacifiCorp provides reliable, efficient electrical service to more than 1.5 million customers in Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, California, Utah, and Idaho. The company generates about 8,000 MW of energy from coal, hydro, gas-fired, combustion turbine, geothermal, and renewable wind power.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private sector coal company with 2002 sales of 198 million tons of coal and $2.7 billion in revenues. Peabody's coal products fuel more than 9% of all US electricity generation and more than 2% of worldwide electricity generation.

RAG American Coal Holding Inc. is one of the five largest US coal producers with 13 surface and underground mines located in six eastern, midwestern, and western states. Based near Baltimore, MD, RAG employs about 3,000 people and produces approximately 70 million tons of coal annually, largely for electric utilities.

Rio Tinto is a global mining company with interests in energy products (coal and uranium), copper, aluminum, iron ore, industrial minerals, diamonds, and gold.

Southern Company has 4 million customers and nearly 37,000 MW of generating capacity. It is the premier energy company in the Southeast and a leading US producer of electricity.

TXU is a major energy company with operations in North America and Australia. TXU manages a diverse energy portfolio with a strategic mix of over $30 billion in assets.

Battelle's release said the alliance sent a letter to President Bush outlining the FutureGen initiative.

"The FutureGen initiative squarely targets three of the most critical long-term energy challenges facing the nation," the alliance wrote. "One, ensuring the continued availability of low-cost electricity. Two, reducing the United States' dependence on imported oil and limited U.S. natural gas reserves by advancing the production of hydrogen through the use of coal. And three, managing the potential environmental and financial risks of climate change."

Battelle focuses its efforts on technology development and commercialization and product development. With 7,500 employees at more than 60 locations, the nonprofit develops technologies and products for industry and government. Annual revenues are approximately $1 billion.

"At present, fossil fuels meet the vast majority of America's and the world's energy needs," Battelle's release noted. "In an age when energy must become increasingly compatible with environmental concerns, the alliance is seeking to take a bold step forward by developing designs for near zero emission coal-fueled power plants with the hope that these plants will make sense for the U.S. economy, the environment and shareholders. The US has more than a 300 year supply of coal. Therefore, the effort to design near zero emission power plants promises to create a new way in which coal can power out economy with minimal environmental impacts. The alliance members look forward to substantive discussions with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory to work toward a public-private partnership."

Alliance member AEP is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States. With more than 5 million customers linked to AEP's 11-state (from Michigan to Texas) electricity transmission and distribution grid, the Columbus, OH–based giant owns and operates more than 42,000 MW of generating capacity in the United States and select international markets. The company is the largest electricity generator in the US and has the largest electricity customer count.

According to Melissa McHenry, manager of corporate media relations for AEP, the company strongly supports advancement of clean coal technologies so the US can continue to use its most plentiful domestic fuel source. In addition to participating in the FutureGen alliance, AEP announced at the end of August that the company will build the first large-scale, baseload (1,000 to 1,200 MW) integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in the United States.

"IGCC is a clean coal technology that combines two technologies—coal gasification and combined cycle—to offer the potential to achieve the environmental benefits of gas-fired generation with the thermal performance of a combined cycle plant, yet with the low fuel cost associated with coal," McHenry says. "Coal gasification uses a gasifier in which coal is partially combusted with oxygen and steam to form what is commonly called ‘syngas,' a combination of carbon monoxide, methane, and hydrogen. This syngas then is cleaned to remove the particulate and sulfur compounds. Sulfur is converted to elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid, and ash is converted into glassy slag. Mercury can be removed in a bed of activated carbon."

McHenry says coal gasification allows the utility to remove emissions before the coal gas is combusted, as opposed to installing costly controls that capture emissions from the exhaust gas stream. The process, she says, is more efficient and results in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury, carbon dioxide, and NOx. "Carbon capture is also expected to be easier from an IGCC plant than from pulverized coal plants."

One of the advantages of an IGCC plant, McHenry notes, is its fuel flexibility, particularly the ability to use higher-sulfur coals. "This technology seems to work best with the higher-Btu coals, such as bituminous Appalachian coals readily available in AEP's eastern service territory," she says.

What Are the Drawbacks of IGCC?
McHenry says currently the capital costs for IGCC are high, but they are expected to decline as more plants are built and availability improves. "Also, the technology is currently not economical for low-Btu coals, and until recently, the business case for IGCC was not attractive as there were no equipment suppliers, only technology licensers, placing virtually all of the technology and performance risk on the plant owners. This factor is turning around."

While AEP has gotten involved on the IGCC front, the DOE has been hard at work on FutureGen on several other fronts. According to Der, the DOE provided Congress with a program plan for the FutureGen initiative in March 2004. Nine million dollars were released by Congress to begin activities on the FutureGen project.

"Currently we are working on several fronts in preparation for the execution of this project," Der says. "First, the department is gearing up for negotiations with the FutureGen Alliance to enter into a cooperative agreement. The department is drafting site selection criteria and preliminary test plans for the project, as well as defining and planning out the work required by the environmental regulations set forth for federally funded projects such as FutureGen, which is subject to the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]. In support of FutureGen, we are also developing cutting-edge technologies that could be incorporated into FutureGen, such as advanced gas separation using membrane technology, hydrogen and coal gas turbines, advanced gasifier—that converts coal to a gaseous fuel for making hydrogen—fuel cells, and carbon dioxide sequestration instrumentation for measuring and monitoring the stored carbon dioxide in deep underground geologic formations."

Where Is FutureGen Headed?
Der anticipates that a site will be competitively selected based on a set of criteria within the next two years, and after completing the NEPA process, the final design for FutureGen will be completed and followed by construction. "When operational, this zero-emission facility will be the cleanest fossil fuel–fired power plant in the world," Der notes. "The project will require at least 10 years to complete, with results shared among all participants, industry, the environmental community, and the public. DOE will also invite participation from international partners in the initiative. This will maximize the global applicability and acceptance of FutureGen's results, which is necessary for building an international consensus on the role of coal and sequestration in addressing global climate change and energy security. Broad engagement of stakeholders early on in FutureGen is critical to achieving an understanding and acceptance of sequestration and zero-emission coal utilization."

Der says the DOE, as a major cost-shared partner, will oversee all major aspects of the project. The DOE will work with the industrial team to ensure that that project will follow a fair, competitive, and open process to achieve the project objectives and goals, with the results being shared by all participants. It will manage and track the project from the government's side according to established DOE procedures, provide guidance, conduct project reviews, and be responsible for independent assessments. The DOE will also negotiate international agreements for foreign government participation in the FutureGen project.

FutureGen's managers intend to develop and perfect carbon sequestration technologies. What is carbon sequestration? How does it work? How far along is this technology?

According to Der, carbon sequestration is a family of methods for capturing and permanently isolating gases that otherwise could contribute to global climate change. "There are affordable and environmentally safe sequestration approaches and they could offer a way to stabilize atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide without requiring the US and other countries to make large-scale and potentially costly changes to their energy infrastructures," Der says. "Many possible technology pathways are being researched, but much work remains to be done. Various methods are at various stages of research and development."

Some carbon sequestration possibilities include

• geologic storage (injection into underground saline reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery or enhanced coal bed methane recovery);
• terrestrial storage and enhanced photosynthesis (i.e., more plants, soil, and vegetation enhancement); and
• advanced concepts such as conversion to minerals and bioconversion.

FutureGen will employ geologic sequestration, which involves a full characterization of the geologic site in which the carbon dioxide will be stored. The carbon dioxide injected into these deep formations is a "supercritical fluid" (a liquid form). The project will use advanced instrumentation to verify that the carbon dioxide is at the underground location, measure the amount injected, and monitor stability and any migration over time. "There is likely a variety of geologic formations that could be host sites for sequestration and it is expected that these sites have the potential for permanent storage when their geology is fully characterized," Der notes.

But can FutureGen truly change the way we think about coal and its contribution to America's, and the world's, energy future? According to Der, the answer is a resounding yes. "Fossil fuels will remain the mainstay of energy production well into the 21st century," Der says. "As our nation's most abundant and low-cost energy resource, coal now produces over half the electricity in the US, one-third the electricity worldwide, and is projected to do so for quite some time. Availability of coal to provide clean, affordable energy is essential for the prosperity and security of the US and the world. However, increased concentrations of carbon dioxide due to carbon emissions are expected unless energy systems reduce their carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

"The goal of FutureGen is to prove the technical feasibility and economic viability of zero emissions from coal plants, including carbon dioxide. If we can eliminate all the environmental concerns from the use of coal, including greenhouse gas emissions, we can help ensure America's and the world's energy security into the foreseeable future. The ability to produce zero emission hydrogen from coal for transportation, and distributed energy generation, will go a long way in securing our nation's energy needs, including a reduced reliance on imported oil."

How can carbon sequestration present the potential to reduce and eventually eliminate nearly one-third of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions? "Roughly one-third of the United States' carbon emissions come from power plants and other large point sources," Der says. "To stabilize and ultimately reduce concentrations of this greenhouse gas, it will be necessary to employ carbon sequestration. The key is to develop a suite of technologies that will allow this to occur.

"To be successful, the techniques and practices to sequester carbon must be effective and cost competitive, provide stable long-term storage, and be environmentally benign. This is our challenge."

Bottom line: clean coal can and does work. "We have shown much progress over the last 30 years in clean coal technologies. The US now consumes more than twice as much coal as it did in 1970, yet total emissions from coal plants have been drastically reduced. That speaks well for the kind of technical progress we have achieved in the past and that we look forward to achieving in the future to ensure the prosperity and security for our nation in the 21st century," Der says.

Coal will continue to play a big part in America's energy future and, until alternative energy technologies fully develop, fossil fuels will be a major and required component of our energy mix. "Our collective challenge is to make sure that they are used in the most efficient and environmentally friendly manner possible—that is why Future Gen is important to our ultimate goal of zero emissions from coal," Der concludes.

In a related item about clean coal, Columbus, OH–based Carmeuse North America presented the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO), a program of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, with a royalty check for a completed project, which subsequently has become commercially available technology. According to a press release by Mark Shanahan of OAQDA, the project, funded through an OCDO grant, presented a means of recovering magnesium hydroxide and gypsum from a magnesium-enhanced lime flue gas desulfurization process. Byproduct magnesium hydroxide is, Shanahan said, suitable to replace the commercial magnesium hydroxide slurry product often used at power stations for acid stream and bottom ash neutralization. "The byproduct recovery process, in its latest configuration at one of the largest coal-fueled units in the state provides a number of benefits not foreseen at its inception," Shanahan said. "Among these are flue gas desulfurization waste water treatment that meets strict discharge permitting requirements and reduction of SO3 emissions that are a result of selective catalytic reduction processes used for NOx emission reduction. The plant saves about $4 million by using byproduct."

On February 27, 2003, President Bush announced FutureGen as tomorrow's pollution-free power plant, saying, "Today I am pleased to announce that the United States will sponsor a $1 billion, 10-year demonstration project to create the world's first coal-based, zero-emissions electricity and hydrogen power plant."

When and if the FutureGen project becomes operational, the project will generate revenue streams from the sales of electricity, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. The revenue will be shared among the project participants, including the US government, in proportion to their respective cost-sharing percentage.

ROBERT GLUCK is a writer based in Pennsylvania.

DE - March/April 2005