The future of coal as a transportation fuel

2021 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2110379
Author(s):  
Vikram Mittal ◽  
Rajesh Shah ◽  
Nabill Huq
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Solid Hydrocarbon ◽  
Transportation Fuel ◽  
Fischer Tropsch ◽  
Coal Reserves

Due to environmental concerns and cost issues, coal is currently being phased out from usage in electricity production. Regardless, there remains a massive stockpile of coal reserves along with a large industrial complex and a robust distribution/processing infrastructure. As such, coal should be considered for usage in other energy areas. Since coal is simply a solid hydrocarbon, it can be converted over for usage as a transportation fuel. The Fischer-Tropsch process that underlies this conversion is well established with some countries like South Africa currently using it at large scales. Unfortunately, this conversion process has a large carbon footprint, even when using carbon capture technology. However, the blending of coal-based fuels with biodiesel has been found to be more carbon neutral than standard diesel or biodiesel alone. Additionally, coal can be used as an alternate to methane for hydrogen production. Given carbon capture technologies and the existing coal infrastructure, these two uses of coal provide opportunities for a sustainable and economical use of coal as a transportation fuel.

scholarly journals Valorization of OFMSW Digestate-Derived Syngas toward Methanol, Hydrogen, or Electricity: Process Simulation and Carbon Footprint Calculation

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aristide Giuliano ◽  
Enrico Catizzone ◽  
Cesare Freda ◽  
Giacinto Cornacchia
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Process Simulation ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Methanol Production

This paper explores a possible waste-based economy transition strategy. Digestate from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is considered, as well as a low-added value product to be properly valorized. In this regard, air gasification may be used to produce syngas. In this work, the production of methanol, hydrogen, or electricity from digestate-derived syngas was assessed by ChemCAD process simulation software. The process scheme of methanol production comprises the following parts: water gas shift (WGS) with carbon capture and storage units (CCS), methanol synthesis, and methanol purification. In the case of hydrogen production, after WGS-CCS, hydrogen was purified from residual nitrogen by pressure swing absorption (PSA). Finally, for electricity production, the digestate-derived syngas was used as fuel in an internal combustion engine. The main objective of this work is to compare the proposed scenarios in terms of CO2 emission intensity and the effect of CO2 storage. In particular, CCS units were used for methanol or hydrogen production with the aim of obtaining high equilibrium yield toward these products. On the basis of 100 kt/year of digestate, results show that the global CO2 savings were 80, 71, and 69 ktCO2eq/year for electricity, methanol, and hydrogen production, respectively. If carbon storage was considered, savings of about 105 and 99 ktCO2eq/year were achieved with methanol and hydrogen production, respectively. The proposed scenarios may provide an attractive option for transitioning into methanol or hydrogen economy of the future.

Numerical Study of Coal Composition Effects on the Performance of Gasification Through Computational Fluid Dynamic

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran Nazir Unar ◽  
Suhail Ahmed Soomro ◽  
Ghulamullah Maitlo ◽  
Shaheen Aziz ◽  
Rasool Bux Mahar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computational Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Combustion Model ◽  
Heating Value ◽  
Coal Composition ◽  
Coal Reserves

Abstract Pakistan is very rich in coal reserves specifically after exploration of Thar coal reserves. At the same time country is facing energy crises due to shortage or unavailability of sustainable fuel supply at a cheaper rate. One potential solution is coal gasification which gives clean synthetic gas usually called syngas for use as an alternative fuel source for electricity production at a cheaper rate as well as a source of recovering different chemicals used as basic raw materials in other industries. Numerical simulations have been performed in this work for the gasification process of indigenous coal on a 2D computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model of downdraft entrained-flow gasifier using commercial CFD software FLUENT®6.3.26. Navier-stokes equations along with transport equations for species have been solved using eddy-dissipation combustion model. The compositions of indigenous coals (Thar, Lakhra, and Sonda) were used in simulations as gasification feedstock. Rich oxidant conditions 95 % O2 and 5 % N2 were set for gasification. The gasification performance was studied by comparing efficiencies of gasification and quality of syngas produced for three types of coal feedings. The temperature and pressure profiles inside the gasifier were also studied. From simulation results, the great influence of coal composition was observed in the performance of gasification. Lakhra coal produced syngas with a maximum heating value of 20.55 MJ/kg whereas sonda coal produced syngas with a minimum heating value of 17.96 MJ/kg.

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