WABASH RIVER INTEGRATED METHANOL AND POWER PRODUCTION FROM CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGIES (IMPPCCT)

The Wabash River Integrated Methanol and Power Production from Clean Coal Technologies (IMPPCCT) project is evaluating integrated electrical power generation and methanol production through clean coal technologies. The project is conducted by a multi-industry team lead by Gasification Engineering Corporation (GEC), and supported by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Dow Chemical Company, Dow Corning Corporation, Methanex Corporation, and Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation. Three project phases are planned for execution, including: (1) Feasibility study and conceptual design for an integrated demonstration facility, and for fence-line commercial embodiment plants (CEP) operated at Dow Chemical or Dow Corning chemical plant locations (2) Research, development, and testing (RD&T) to define any technology gaps or critical design and integration issues (3) Engineering design and financing plan to install an integrated commercial demonstration facility at the existing Wabash River Energy Limited (WREL) plant in West Terre Haute, Indiana. The WREL facility is a project selected and co-funded under the Round IV of the United States Department of Energy's (DOE's) Clean Coal Technology Program. In this project, coal and/or other solid fuel feedstocks are gasified in an oxygen-blown, entrained-flow gasifier with continuous slag removal and a dry particulate removal system. The resulting product synthesis gas is used to fuel a combustion turbine generator whose exhaust is integrated with a heat recovery steam generator to drive a refurbished steam turbine generator. The gasifier uses technology initially developed by The Dow Chemical Company (the Destec Gasification Process), and now offered commercially by Global Energy, Inc., parent company of GEC and WREL, as the E-GAS{trademark} technology. In a joint effort with the DOE, a Cooperative Agreement was awarded under the Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) solicitation. GEC and an Industrial Consortium are investigating the use of synthesis gas produced by the E-GAS{trademark} technology in a coproduction environment to enhance the efficiency and productivity of solid fuel gasification combined cycle power plants. The objectives of this effort are to determine the feasibility of an EECP located at a specific site which produces some combination of electric power (or heat), fuels, and/or chemicals from synthesis gas derived from coal, or, coal in combination with some other carbonaceous feedstock. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information that will be needed to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation by industry. During the reporting period, effort continues on identifying potential technologies for removing contaminants from synthesis gas to the level required by methanol synthesis. A liquid phase Claus process and a direct sulfur oxidation process were evaluated. Preliminary discussion was held with interested parties on cooperating on RD&T in Phase II of the project. Also, significant progress was made during the period in the submission of project deliverables. A meeting was held at DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown between GEC and the DOE IMPPCCT Project Manager on the status of the project, and reached an agreement on the best way to wrap up Phase I and transition into the Phase II RD&T. Potential projects for the Phase II, cost, and fund availability were also discussed