Energy News
Clean coal energy?
- Details
- Category: News
- Written by Diane L.M. Cook
Has Alberta finally found the key to unlocking its vast coal resource? In a province best known for its oil and gas, in situ gasification technology could hold the key to clean, low-carbon synthetic gas from unminable coal. This gas is expected to produce the same amount of energy that natural gas does, but with roughly half the greenhouse gas emissions. And it might help redefine how Alberta produces its energy.
The Swan Hills Synfuels In Situ Coal Gasification / Sagitawah Power Project will produce synthetic gas from deep, unminable coal seams near Swan Hills, located northwest of Edmonton. This low-carbon gas will be used to fuel a new 300-megawatt power plant near Whitecourt, 60 kilometres south of Swan Hills. Carbon dioxide captured by the project will be used in the oilfields in the Swan Hills area for enhanced oil recovery, increasing oil production while permanently storing the CO2.
Doug Shaigec, president of Swan Hills Synfuels, says in situ coal gasification will help Alberta blaze a trail for cleaner, more environmentally responsible use of coal. “We believe our Sagitawah Power Project will be a major step toward cleaning up fossil fuel–based energy production.”
Gasification is a manufacturing process that converts materials such as coal into a synthesis gas, or syngas. This gas can then be used as fuel, or further processed to produce other products such as fertilizers and liquid fuels.
Because there is no coalmine or coal-handling facilities, the coal is not extracted to the surface. Instead, injection and production wells are drilled to access the coal seam. Through a high-pressure gasification process, the coal is efficiently converted into syngas while still in its original seam. The syngas flows to the surface and is then processed in a conventional gas plant.
BIG BENEFITS
The Sagitawah Power Project is expected to cost $1.5 billion, including a $285-million investment from the Alberta government. Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of 2012. The project should be in service by 2015, with an expected lifespan of 40 years and production of over 17 million gigajoules of syngas energy per year.
In addition to an in situ coal gasification facility, the project will also include a power generation facility that will use clean, low-carbon syngas to produce electricity. The power facility will tie into the existing 240-kilovolt high-voltage transmission system in the Whitecourt area. This facility will produce enough electricity to power 300,000 typical households in Alberta (about one-quarter the size of Calgary).
CO2 captured by the in situ coal gasification facility will be transported by pipeline to mature oilfields in the Swan Hills area to produce more oil through enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The facility will be adjacent to established oilfields that have over four billion barrels of original oil in place.
The Sagitawah Power Project has several benefits. Environmentally, the lack of above-ground coal mining facilities means the project will have a small footprint. The project will also use non-fresh water in the gasification process, conserving an estimated six million cubic metres of fresh water each year as compared to a conventional coal-fired power plant.
Estimates are that the project will capture 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, representing over 20 per cent of the Alberta government’s funding objective of reducing CO2 emissions by 5 million tonnes per year. This is equivalent to taking about 260,000 cars off the road.
PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY
Excitement is building in the town of Whitecourt about the project.
“This project will help Whitecourt build another pillar for our community,” says Mayor Trevor Thain. “Currently, we have forestry and oil and gas, and we are about to add electricity generation to the mix.”
Thain says there are already some Whitecourt residents working on the project, and when construction begins, he expects more jobs will become available. “With the EOR doubling production in the maturing oilfields near Swan Hills, which will double the life expectancy of the oilfields, that increase in production will result in more work, more drilling, more trucking and other spin-off business opportunities for hotels and restaurants.”
Shaigec says there is enough coal at Swan Hills for multiple future phases of in situ coal gasification development to produce clean energy.
“If this project is successful, the potential to expand it or replicate it is very significant,” he says. “This would greatly add to Alberta’s ability to produce clean syngas from coal, reduce its total yearly CO2 emissions, increase the government’s oil royalties and provide many benefits to the businesses and residents of Alberta.”
Source: Alberta Construction Magazine
