Dec

21

SRI International Develops a New Coal To Liquid Fuel Process

December 21, 2011 | 6 Comments

Make no mistake here; SRI International has the brainpower and skill set to come up with workable and commercial ideas that have scale in mind from the start.  Robert Wilson, Ph.D., director, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, SRI International said in the press release, “The implications of this research are expansive, including enhancing US energy [...]

Jun

15

Will CO2 Capture Become Cheap?

June 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

The European Union and led by SINTEF in Norway with ten other European partners has completed lab tests and is set to demonstrate a cost-effective CO2 capture technology. Called the DemoCLOCK project, with a budget of €8.2 million, it is based on a special version of a technology called Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC). This a [...]

May

26

A System to “Pre-Clean” Coal and Get a Little Oil & Gas

May 26, 2009 | 7 Comments

Phoenix-based CoalSack Energy, Inc. is a fledgling company launched four months ago with the express goal of taking their groundbreaking technology to market. It’s based on the technology developed by Harold L. Bennett, a 78-year-old civil engineer from Albuquerque. It seems that CoalSack is in the pretreatment of coal business, until now a non-existing business, [...]

Nov

20

Ideological Purity vs. Intelligence About Coal

November 20, 2008 | 6 Comments

With all the believers in the face of the best facts still pushing for global warming doomsdays, coal is having a difficult time as a fuel for the exploding need for electrical power generation. Now I fully agree that burning coal and sending clouds of effluents rich in nasty metals, sulfur compounds and an array [...]

Nov

13

Ultra Supercritical Steam Generation

November 13, 2008 | 10 Comments

We might want to know what this is, its going to affect your electricity rates. Ultra supercritical (USC) steam generation is a derivation on the definitions of the temperature and pressure at which water vapor and liquid water are indistinguishable, aka the “Critical Point.” At that critical point of water some 705 degrees F/3208 psi, [...]

Sep

12

Progess Check – Biomass and Coal to Gasoline

September 12, 2008 | 9 Comments

For all the bad feelings towards “Big Oil” they get some things done. One of the more effective investments they have underway and has been for years is the Gas Technology Institute near Des Plaines Illinois. With over 100 research scientists and engineers earning 13 patents in 2007 and filing for 18 more, this is [...]

Sep

4

The Fuel That Won’t Go Away

September 4, 2008 | 2 Comments

That’s how the CO2, environmental, and global warming people see it. It simply is to good to ignore. Vast amounts of carbon, solid as a rock to nearly soft as wood, coal is as easily handled as any fuel. It’s concentrated with some hydrogen so it burns readily and hot and can be used for [...]