[Eli]

I am thinking of moving some of my cash out of some of the oil stocks I have in favor of companies that are developing coal gasification and CO2 injection into old oil wells.

I think there is a huge upside to CO2 injection and when CO2 is produced through coal gasification you get Syn Gas that will become profitable when ng is over 9 bucks so we are real close to the point where coal gasification is really going to take off.

So what companies are doing this?

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I') am thinking of moving some of my cash out of some of the oil stocks I have in favor of companies that are developing coal gasification and CO2 injection into old oil wells.

I think there is a huge upside to CO2 injection and when CO2 is produced through coal gasification you get Syn Gas that will become profitable when ng is over 9 bucks so we are real close to the point where coal gasification is really going to take off.

So what companies are doing this?

[aflatoxin]

I've been involved with the gas business for 15 years. CO2 Injection is not new.

Exxon-mobil and chevron-texaco has been doing this since before my time in the permian and wy/ut areas.

Florida power and light has a pretty neat coal gasification plant. It is at least 10 years old. They run a super-low emissions gas turbine off it.

Smoke and mirrors.

[Eli]

I am a huge doomer but coal gasification is not smoke and mirrors.

Just like CO2 injection it is a very old technology too. It has been used since the 1850s when it was used to produce "water gas".

It may be more cost intensive than Nat gas but it is not like converting the tar sands into fuel. The combustion cycle is fueled by the coal and whit nat gas in decline ICCG will become much more common.

The products that you end up with at the end are Naptha for fuel,
Ammonium sulfate and Anhydrous ammonia- fertilizer
Krypton and xenon gases
Dephenolized cresylic acid
Liquid nitrogen

[OneLoneClone]

Sasol was doing it in apartheid South Africa for years, prolly have the most experience. Haven't evaluated stock tho.

GE is into it (and everything else) in the US. Stock has underperfomed for years tho. I would like to own some, tho.

Headwaters is also a player, but thier stock is expensive right now. I would like to own some.

I think stocks are expensive right now and I'm waiting for a sale day.

[topcat]

I'm not up on coal gasification.

There is a company doing work on "low rank coal-water fuel' that I know of; Silverado Green Fuels, Inc. I would image that there are others too. From what I read on their site, it might be a viable oil substitute for power generation. We're supposed to have lots of coal, at least that's what 'they' say. Its even supposed to be an environmentally friendly product?!?!?!

They have received some funding from the Fed to continue their work. I think DOE and DOD both are involved. The parent company is Silverado Gold Mines, Ltd.

They had quite a nice run up in their stock about a month ago, and now it looks like some consolidation/profit-taking going on.

Disclamer:
I did buy some shares when the run up started, as I have been watching them for some time now. And then, I bought some more.

I do hold other gold stocks and when I learned about SLGLF's LRCWF receiving some $$$'s, I thought what the heck. Its one that I intend to keep for the kids, not one I want to try and time and trade. At the price (around .11/share today) its like an option that never expires.

More disclaimers:
I am not: a broker, an SLGLF employee, in any way related to the financial/banking/brokerage/oil/coal industries, or a financial advisor.

Any and all thoughts here are worth what they cost - nothing!

Always perform 'due diligence' before investing money in anything you cannot eat.

What I am: an agrculturial engineer (LOL), an untrained fruit and vegetable grower procrasting the pruning of my apples, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, and grapes. And Wed I saw robins!

[ararboin]

Turning Dirty Coal Into Clean Energy by Elizabeth Shogren, NPR, Morning Edition, April 25, 2006:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')oday's expensive gasoline is making people look for alternatives. That has opened doors of opportunity for entrepreneurs such as Andrew Perlman, who is betting that the "clean" fuel of future will be made from one of humanity's oldest -- and dirtiest: coal.
Perlman wants to turn coal into clean natural gas. The concept isn't new. In the 1800s, cities such as Boston used big, dirty ovens to turn coal into town gas to fuel streetlights and gas lamps in homes. During World War II, Nazi Germany turned coal into liquid fuel to run tanks.
During the energy crisis of the 1970s, the U.S. government promoted research projects to produce gas and liquid fuel from coal. But those efforts were abandoned after the crisis passed. Now, instability in the Middle East and record-high prices for petroleum products have prompted a new wave of interest in technologies to turn coal into natural gas and liquid fuel. For entrepreneurs such as Perlman, these technologies hold the promise of producing cleaner fuel out of coal, which is abundant and affordable.
"The U.S. has more coal than any other country in the world. It's actually about as cheap as dirt," said Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Greatpoint Energy, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company.
GreatPoint Energy is refining a process called catalytic gasification to convert coal into methane or substitute natural gas. In their process, coal is mixed with a catalyst and fed into a gasifier: a tall, narrow, metal cylindrical container.
Inside the gasifier, the coal and the catalyst are combined with steam and subjected to pressure. That causes a chemical reaction that converts them into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. GreatPoint says the key to its new technology is the catalyst it uses. Perlman says it's a combination of readily available metals, but so far, the ingredients are secret.
Because of that catalyst, GreatPoint's process works at a lower temperature than other technologies, which makes the process much cheaper. The catalyst also enables GreatPoint to separate out about half of the carbon dioxide, a chief cause of climate change. (The company plans to sell that carbon dioxide to be injected into oil or gas wells to facilitate production.) Other pollutants also are removed at the plant, which makes the product much cleaner than the synthesis gas produced by other gasification processes.
Greatpoint's technology works in the laboratory. Sometime this summer, the company will learn whether it also will work at a small-scale plant in Des Plains, Ill.

[Windmills]

I heard that just a few minutes ago.

The report said the technology wouldn't be available on a commercial scale for at least four years. I have the gut feeling that we are very close to peak oil now, so I don't know if it would make any difference. Even if it di, it's success might be even more of a disaster because it would mask the underlying causes, overpopulation and overconsumption, that have gotten us into resource depletion. Physical technologies are only going to take us so far. What we really need are advances in "social technology," learning how to better organize and operate our socieities. Finally, it mentioned that coal was "cheap as dirt," but for how long? Once demand for coal via various technologies begins to ramp up, what are it's long term prospects? How cheap will it continue to be, and how long will it last under the new parameters?

It would have been nice to hear about the EROEI for their plant, too.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Windmills', 'I') heard that just a few minutes ago. The report said the technology wouldn't be available on a commercial scale for at least four years. --snip-- How cheap will it continue to be, and how long will it last under the new parameters? It would have been nice to hear about the EROEI for their plant, too.

[caliginousface]

Hey all, it's been a while since i've been around, still pursuing the goals of flying airplanes and hot air balloons (foolishly). HOWEVER! I am also pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies, so does that give me some points back?

Anyways a while ago a friend told me of coal gasification and I figured that given enough time we (the US and the World) would end up gasifying coal for liquid fuel needs. While pollution would be high and all that good stuff I think that this will be the only option. I've been out of the loop for a while so I don't know the exact status of everything that's going on in the worldwide Peak Oil discussion forum. But yes anyways, with a crapload of coal in this country I figure gasification will be the "savior," and the killer.

Thoughts...ready? Go!

[MonteQuest]

We been all over this some time back. CTL will just make us dependant upon another fossil fuel that will soon peak in as little as 30 years. We don't have a "crapload" of coal.

Read this:

http://peakoil.com/fortopic3722.html

[dogf]

You actually do have a crap load of coal. In fact based on the current CTL technology available, expensive as it is, you have 200 years worth of L from C based on todays driving and machinery. But you are correct in thinking about the enviromental aspect of it. But that will change as it becomes profitable to protect the enviroment, as is now starting....

[sch_peakoiler]

can you please provide a link to that number 200, or a link to the data that were the basis for your calculations which yielded this number.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dogf', 'Y')ou actually do have a crap load of coal. In fact based on the current CTL technology available, expensive as it is, you have 200 years worth of L from C based on todays driving and machinery. But you are correct in thinking about the enviromental aspect of it. But that will change as it becomes profitable to protect the enviroment, as is now starting....

[Graeme]

U.S. hopes for coal gasification ride on one project

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')uch talked-about U.S. efforts to build a coal-fired power plant with near zero emissions are now concentrated in a single project, as the costs and difficulties of the endeavor have mounted and the stakes have risen.

FutureGen, a $1.5 billion public-private venture, aims to design and test the technology required to turn coal into a gas that can be stripped of harmful emissions, then burned to produce electricity and hydrogen. It will also capture carbon dioxide -- widely blamed for global warming -- and store it underground forever.

[jbeckton]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hen operational in 2012, technology developed by FutureGen could help transform the nation's plentiful supply of coal into a friendly and affordable fuel to meet growing demand for electricity. But success of the project will not be quick or cheap, said Lawrence Makovich, a vice president with Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

"Reducing carbon in electric production is a very big challenge and it's something that is going to be very expensive," Makovich said.

"That's why there is so much government involvement

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', '[')b]U.S. hopes for coal gasification ride on one project

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')uch talked-about U.S. efforts to build a coal-fired power plant with near zero emissions are now concentrated in a single project, as the costs and difficulties of the endeavor have mounted and the stakes have risen.

FutureGen, a $1.5 billion public-private venture, aims to design and test the technology required to turn coal into a gas that can be stripped of harmful emissions, then burned to produce electricity and hydrogen. It will also capture carbon dioxide -- widely blamed for global warming -- and store it underground forever.

[Gazzatrone]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', '
')
First they say by 2012, we will transform coal into a friendly and affordable fuel. Then they say that it is going to be very expensive.

What gives?

[jbeckton]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')There is no such thing as clean coal.

Mercury and CO2 are still released into the atmosphere.

SO2, NOX, and VOCs are captured with scrubbers and air is "cleaner" utilizing super critical boilers, but the trade off is increased fly ash.

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')There is no such thing as clean coal.

Mercury and CO2 are still released into the atmosphere.

SO2, NOX, and VOCs are captured with scrubbers and air is "cleaner" utilizing super critical boilers, but the trade off is increased fly ash.