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Friday, November 27, 2015

Coal lobby tries hard to hide its own reports

Coal Can Do That

Dr. Frank Clemente

February 14, 2009

Coal-to-Gas is Off-the-Shelf Energy Solution

The Question: “How can we obtain enough NG at affordable prices to (1) power over 400,000 MW of NG based generation capacity, (2) heat tens of millions of homes and buildings, (3) meet the needs of manufacturing and agriculture, and (4) make ethanol, fertilizer and other energy related products?
The Answer: We can’t.
Enter substitute natural gas (SNG), the product of coal gasification, an established technology that has been around for a century and currently in use throughout the world. SNG facilities can now be made “carbon storage ready” to take advantage of emerging technologies in CO2 capture, leading the way to a virtually emission free use of coal. The captured CO2 can then be stored indefinitely or more productively, be utilized to recover “stranded” oil in depleted fields throughout the nation. Texas alone, for example, has over 35 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil using CO2 injection.
In addition, SNG technology:
  • Produces pipeline quality NG equivalents that can be used to fuel power plants, heat homes and manufacture a wide range of goods.
  • Removes 95% of the mercury and virtually 100% of the sulfur. Further, the captured sulfur can be used to make fertilizer and the ash from combustion of coal can be used to make roads and related infrastructure.
  • Provides fuel for the hundreds of NG dependent power plants we imprudently built over the past decade based on erroneous predictions of NG price and production. In short, prices have escalated and production has stagnated leaving many NG power plants too expensive to operate.
  • Boost the economy of local communities and provide well paying jobs. A planned SNG state-of-the-art facility in Kentucky, for example, will create 1,200 construction jobs for four years, 500 permanent jobs and pump over $100 million into the economy of host Muhlenberg County and surrounding communities.
SNG is a prime example of how off the shelf clean coal conversion technologies can improve our quality of life and fully unlock the socioeconomic value of our greatest energy resource – coal. And the ability to remove just about all the sulfur will open up new vistas for use of coal resources in many states. Missouri, for example, has substantial coal resources that are relatively high in sulfur. SNG will open the door to these resources and significantly benefit economic growth in such states.

Coal Can Do That

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Energy storage and storing a decrease in entropy

1/ Power an air compressor with 13.38 kWh of electric energy to produce heating for a household's daily hot water consumption. The electric energy is converted to heat energy at about 60°C to produce 270 litres of hot water at 55°C and compressed air cooled to 25°C and 8 atmospheres.
See the spreadsheet below for calculations of thermal energy needed to supply 270 litres of hot water per day for a household or business.

2/ The compressed air produced at 25°C and 8 atmospheres (absolute) pressure may be used for driving compressed-air tools.
See the spreadsheet "AirCompressor" for the calculation of the energy used by the compressor and the volume of air it compresses.
Constant-Pressure Compressed Air Accumulator

3/ The compressed air instead may be used in a solar-air turbine to deliver 24.55 kWh at 100% thermal efficiency by compressing it adiabatically to 32 atmospheres before heating it further with an external thermal energy source at constant pressure then expanding it adiabatically before finally outputting it at 25°C and 1 atmosphere pressure.
See the spreadsheet "AirHeatEngine" for the calculation of the conversion of heat energy to 24.55 kWh electrical energy at 100% conversion efficiency with the compressed air that was produced while providing a household or businesses daily hot water requirements.

Note that while the conversion of thermal energy to electrical energy can achieve an efficiency of 100%, the total efficiency takes into account the 13.38 kWh consumed to produce the compressed air. The overall efficiency for this model is (24.55 - 13.38) / 24.55 = 45.5%.

spreadsheets