Hard truths: facing the hard truths about energy. Topic Paper No. 18: Coal to liquids and gas

Miscellaneous · Wed Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:21085149

The report presents the issues associated with and the potential of coal to liquids (CTL) and coal to gas (CTG) technologies. The other important outcome from this report is to view and understand the inputs and assumptions from various publications and the range of production estimates from CTG and CTL technology. The examination of the publications demonstrates a large uncertainty for CTL, due to various assumptions from petroleum price to technological abilities. Key assumptions are left unexamined, such as product transportation, labor, equipment availability, and environmental risk. Overall, the published CTL production estimates are small in the total global petroleum market perspective; even in the most optimistic scenario the volume from CTL amounts to only 20% of the U.S. petroleum market in the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) report. The National Coal Council (NCC) saw a 10% market share, whereas the various Energy Information Administration (EIA) scenarios saw 0% to 6% of the U.S market share. The NCC and SSEB both mentioned the added benefit of using the CO{sub 2} for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). It begins by introducing the process, giving a detailed technological understanding, and then outlining each issue with each report from coal availability to oil price assumptions. The incremental gains from CTL and other technology areas, such as oil shale, could have a significant impact on U.S. energy cost and foreign dependency. The use of coal allows the added benefit of relying on a resource that is domestically more plentiful than petroleum, but this reliance must be carefully balanced with the economics of developing the resource, since CTL facilities can cost more than $1 billion per 10,000 days of production, which implicates the competitiveness of the U.S. economy within the global economy. 33 refs.

• Research Organization: National Petroleum Council, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21085149
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
COAL LIQUEFACTION
COAL GASIFICATION
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
SYNTHESIS GAS
METHANOL
FISCHER-TROPSCH SYNTHESIS
SASOL PROCESS
COST
PRICES
COAL LIQUEFACTION PLANTS
CAPITALIZED COST
PETROLEUM
FORECASTING
PRODUCTION
EMISSION
GREENHOUSE GASES
CARBON DIOXIDE
NAPHTHA
ENERGY POLICY
CHEMICAL FEEDSTOCKS
WORK
COAL CONVERSION