HydroMax - Overcoming the Challenges of Industrial Coal Gasification

Volatile natural gas prices are negatively impacting the U.S. industrial sector, which consumes approximately 6.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas annually. Over the last 24 months, natural gas prices have fluctuated between $5 and $12 per MMBtu, resulting in high and unpredictable fuel costs for the industrial sector. With abundant coal resources, an opportunity exists for the U.S. industrial sector to transition from high-cost natural gas to coal gasification as a source of fuel for process heating applications. However, practical issues such as scalability, economics, feedstock flexibility, and syngas quality must be addressed in order to make this transition feasible. This project will demonstrate the commercial viability of HydroMax technology, a breakthrough, high-temperature, feedstock-flexible, molten-metal gasification approach. In Phase I, two 6.125¿ internal-diameter HydroMax test reactors were designed, built, and successfully operated using Illinois #6 and Powder River Basin coal types to demonstrate feedstock flexibility. A detailed economic analysis conducted during Phase I revealed that HydroMax can produce syngas economically at a price of $6.65 per MMBtu, much less than the current natural gas price of ~$9 per MMBtu. Phase II will focus on the design, construction, operation, and test of a 0.5 meter, self-heated, HydroMax system that will gasify coal and coal/biomass blends. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: An estimated 12,000 industrial operations in the U.S. could benefit from the HydroMax technology; including wallboard/glass manufacturers, pulp and paper mills, and other industrial companies that require process heat. As a result of reducing fuel gas costs, U.S. industry would become more competitive in the global marketplace, jobs would be created, and the American public would benefit from lower product prices.