Waste Coal to Syncrude and Electricity
Creating a New Energy Source and Protecting the Environment
Shiao-Hung Chiang, Badie I. Morsi, and Fan Shi
Concept
Over the past century, a vast quantity of waste coal was discarded to thousands of refuse ponds, which scatter across the Appalachian Coal Basin, including Western Pennsylvania. This presents a unique opportunity and challenge to recover the impounded waste coal as an alternative indigenous energy source that otherwise would not only be unexploited but also presents a serious threat to the environment. To meet this challenge, the research team at University of Pittsburgh in collaboration with Convert Coal, Inc. is undertaking a research and development project to develop an integrated process for converting waste coal to syncrude oil together with clean coal for electricity generation. An initial analysis shows a favorable cost basis for commercial development of this integrated technology.
Application and Benefits
An integrated process will be specifically designed for the recovery, beneficiation, and conversion of waste coal to co-produce syncrude oil for refineries and clean coal for power plants. The major benefits of this process are to:
- utilize waste coal as an indigenous energy resource;
- produce high profit syncrude oil;
- improve power plant efficiency up to 15 percent;
- conserve water usage and reduce emissions in power generation;
- eliminate environmental hazards from refuse ponds; and
- enhance economic development in Appalachian region.
Technical Approach
The integrated technology will be developed based on existing engineering and process-design data of a multi-stage flotation process (MSTLFLO® process) and a syncrude-syncoal process (CS2® process). A phased R&D program will be implemented, which includes:
- characterization of selected waste coal samples;
- engineering design specifications based on laboratory tests;
- validation of the integrated MSTLFLO®-CS2® Process; and
- economic evaluation of commercial plants for waste coal conversion.
Collaboration
Research Team
Shiao-Hung Chiang
Badie Morsi
George Klinzing
Faculty Collaborators
Martin H. Cooper
Radisav Vidic
Industry Partners
ConvertCoal, Inc.
CONSOL Energy Inc.
PBS Coals, Inc.
Contact
Shiao-Hung Chiang
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
412-624-9636
shchiang@pitt.edu