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Gasification Technology R&D

Coal gasification offers one of the most versatile and clean ways to convert coal into electricity, hydrogen, and other valuable energy products.

Coal gasification electric power plants are now operating commercially in the United States and in other nations, and many experts predict that coal gasification will be at the heart of future generations of clean coal technology plants.  

Rather than burning coal directly, gasification (a thermo-chemical process) breaks down coal - or virtually any carbon-based feedstock - into its basic chemical constituents. In a modern gasifier, coal is typically exposed to steam and carefully controlled amounts of air or oxygen under high temperatures and pressures. Under these conditions, molecules in coal break apart, initiating chemical reactions that typically produce a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and other gaseous compounds.

Gasification, in fact, may be one of the most flexible technologies to produce clean-burning hydrogen for tomorrow's automobiles and power-generating fuel cells. Hydrogen and other coal gases can also be used to fuel power-generating turbines, or as the chemical "building blocks" for a wide range of commercial products. (Read more about hydrogen production)

The Energy Department's Office of Fossil Energy is working on coal gasifier advances that enhance efficiency, environmental performance, and reliability as well as expand the gasifier's flexibility to process a variety of coals and other feedstocks (including biomass and municipal/industrial wastes).

Environmental Benefits

The environmental benefits of gasification stem from the capability to achieve extremely low SOx, NOx and particulate emissions from burning coal-derived gases. Sulfur in coal, for example, is converted to hydrogen sulfide and can be captured by processes presently used in the chemical industry. In some methods, the sulfur can be extracted in either a liquid or solid form that can be sold commercially.  In an Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle (IGCC) plant, the syngas produced is virtually free of fuel-bound nitrogen.  NOx from the gas turbine is limited to thermal NOx. Diluting the syngas allows for NOx emissions as low as 15 parts per million. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) can be used to reach levels comparable to firing with natural gas if required to meet more stringent emission levels. Other advanced emission control processes are being developed that could reduce NOx from hydrogen fired turbines to as low as 2 parts per million.

The Office of Fossil Energy is also exploring advanced syngas cleaning and conditioning processes that are even more effective in eliminating emissions from coal gasifiers. Multi-contaminant control processes are being developed that reduce pollutants to parts-per-billion levels and will be effective in cleaning mercury and other trace metals in addition to other impurities.

Coal gasification may offer a further environmental advantage in addressing concerns over the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. If oxygen is used in a coal gasifier instead of air, carbon dioxide is emitted as a concentrated gas stream in syngas at high pressure. In this form, it can be captured and sequestered more easily and at lower costs. By contrast, when coal burns or is reacted in air, 79 percent of which is nitrogen, the resulting carbon dioxide is diluted and more costly to separate.

Efficiency Benefits

Efficiency gains are another benefit of coal gasification. In a typical coal combustion-based power plant, heat from burning coal is used to boil water, making steam that drives a steam turbine-generator. In some coal combustion-based power plants, only a third of the energy value of coal is actually converted into electricity.

A coal gasification power plant, however, typically gets dual duty from the gases it produces. First, the coal gases, cleaned of impurities, are fired in a gas turbine - much like natural gas - to generate one source of electricity. The hot exhaust of the gas turbine, and some of the heat generated in the gasification process, are then used to generate steam for use in a steam turbine-generator. This dual source of electric power, called a "combined cycle," is much more efficient in converting coal's energy into usable electricity. The fuel efficiency of a coal gasification power plant in this type of combined cycle can potentially be boosted to 50 percent or more.

Future concepts that incorporate a fuel cell or a fuel cell-gas turbine hybrid could achieve  efficiencies nearly twice today's typical coal combustion plants. If any of the remaining heat can be channeled into process steam or heat, perhaps for nearby factories or district heating plants, the overall fuel use efficiency of future gasification plants could reach 70 to 80 percent.

Higher efficiencies translate into more economical electric power and potential savings for ratepayers. A more efficient plant also uses less fuel to generate power, meaning that less carbon dioxide is produced. In fact, coal gasification power processes under development by the Energy Department could cut the formation of carbon dioxide by 40 percent or more, per unit of output, compared to today's conventional coal-burning plant.

The capability to produce electricity, hydrogen, chemicals, or various combinations while  eliminating nearly all air pollutants and potentially greenhouse gas emissions makes coal gasification one of the most promising technologies for energy plants of the future.

Future Gasification Systems

In spite of advances in gasification technologies over the past several decades, as well as the environmental superiority of IGCC plants over other coal-based power generation systems, costs of gasification systems remain high (order of billion dollars for a large-scale IGCC plant), which has impeded market penetration. Historically, industry has lowered prices via “economies of scale” (i.e., the bigger the plant, the lower the cost to convert a low-cost feedstock into higher-value products). Another conventional way to reduce costs is through massive quantities and assembly lines, as exemplified by cars, cell phones, and refrigerators. New gasification systems are envisioned to have a new design and modular size.

A new research and development (R&D) coal conversion (e.g., gasification) approach is being developed.  It centers on using small-scale, modular systems with heavy reliance on advanced manufacturing, sophisticated modeling and simulation, and reaction and process intensification. The approach is intended to increase plant availability, reduce capital costs and cost of energy production, reduce development time and cost, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and leverage technical breakthroughs with commercial technologies.

Modular systems are inherently flexible, allowing multiple units to be placed in a series to easily modify the system to accommodate different fuels (coal, biomass, municipal solid waste, and combinations of these) and/or produce different products (electricity, heat, liquid fuels, chemicals) quickly enough to adjust for different market demands. It is also envisioned that several modular technology systems could be integrated together (modular gasifiers, modular turbines, modular fuel cells, etc.) to expand on the possible products produced, to minimize emissions, and to make the system uniquely beneficial to the region in which it is located.

The initial development approach will include, among other areas, new computational toolsets, reactor characterization techniques, coproduct optimization, and system analysis optimization. This will be the foundation of a new program area, focused on the development of small-scale (e.g., 1-20 MW), modular gasifier units uniquely designed for the region in which they would be deployed.