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Home | Technology | Energy

Gasification Technology In The Coal Mines Of Wyoming

By: Chris Blastoyout

With spiraling costs of crude oil, mainly dictated by a real but unrecognized oil cartel, and an exponential increase in the need for alternative sources of energy, Wyoming's vast coal minefields remain the country's top producer of energy of this kind. Wyoming supplied 25% of the country's need for coal in 1996 and 40% in 2004. This dramatic increase in coal production stems from the state's application of huge excavating and coal-loading equipment and the extensive use of computers to fully automate the production of coal. This allowed Wyoming to produce more coal at significantly lower labor requirements which effectively translates into lower production costs.

Wyoming produces coal that is used to run electric power plants all over the country. The steel industries of the country also use coal for its residue - coke, which is a by-product of destructive distillation - as fuel. In other industries such as those in paper, chemical, and metal manufacturing, coal is also used as an energy source.

In order to fully maximize the growth potential of Wyoming as the undisputed leader in coal production in the country, a leading university based in the capital city of Cheyenne cooperated and worked collaboratively with a leading energy-driven industry to produce a simplified gasification system technology that will further increase coal production without any added strain to the labor segment.

The gasification system contains a gasifier which effectively converts hydrocarbon raw materials into gaseous constituents. This is done by applying heat under pressure through the use of steam. The amount of air that enters the gasifier is carefully and meticulously controlled. This is done to ensure that only minute fractions of the fuel burns completely in a process called "partial oxidation". The raw material in the gasifier is chemically split into component molecules by the heat generated by the partial oxidation and pressure from the steam. The result is synthesis gas, which is basically hydrogen and carbon monoxide, but can also include other gaseous molecules depending on the general conditions of the gasifier and the type of the raw material that was used.

Once applied to the coal mining industries of Wyoming, the gasification technology can churn out other marketable and profitable by-products. Environmental pollutants will be effectively controlled through a series of built-in quality control mechanisms that effectively turn out these otherwise harmful chemicals into commercially useful products or into easily-managed and controlled industrial waste.

The gasification system that will be built in the coal mines of Wyoming will effectively clean the syngas (synthesis gas), of its chemical components such as hydrogen sulphide and ammonia. Very fine particles from the raw material will also be removed and burned as fuel in the system's combustion turbines. The combustion turbines then drive the electric generator. The heat that is produced by the combustion turbine is converted into steam to drive another generator, the steam turbine generator. These two turbines account for the gasification system's high power generation efficiencies. Higher generation efficiencies translate to lesser fuel needed to produce the rated power. This results in better economics. It also translates to fewer greenhouse gases because the molecular components of the raw material (fuel) are effectively managed.

Should Wyoming finally operate these gasification systems in its coal mines, other opportunities will be made available. Apart from the opportunity to create, develop, and produce higher forms of high-value and highly-efficient fuel energy systems, synthesis gas produced from the gasification system can greatly contribute to the prevention of global warming. As oxygen is used in the gasification system, the carbon dioxide by-product becomes a concentrated gas stream. This makes it a lot easier and inexpensive to split and confined. This prevents the carbon dioxide to leak into the outside environment which may otherwise contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Article Source: http://bytepowered.org/articles

Chris Blastoyout reports on issues affecting homeowners for Cheyenne Wyoming Water Damage Restoration and Cheyenne Wyoming Flood Damage Cleanup

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