Potential energy and economic impacts of coal-slurry pipelines. Final report

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6562573

This report assesses the potential impact of a network of coal slurry pipelines on regional coal production and consumption, delivered coal prices and consumer costs. In this study, a range of pipeline and unit train cost estimates are compared for a number of key transportation links. The purpose of this comparison is not to make definitive statements about which transportation mode is least costly for carrying coal, as that will depend on very site-specific and detailed information. Rather, the purpose is to provide a perspective on how coal slurry pipelines would affect the coal markets and coal consumers. An analytic framework was developed which examines the effects of transportation costs on the coal markets. A series of cost estimates was developed for both coal slurry pipelines and unit trains. Six scenarios were analyzed in this study. The Coal and Electric Utilities Model (CEUM) forecasts indicate slurry pipelines would not have major effects on shifting national or regional coal production. Those pipelines which appear economic generally displace rail traffic over the same route, and tend not to create interregional shifts. The slurry pipelines which carry high volumes of coal over long distances often appear to have a cost advantage over unit trains for the specific routes and alternative characteristics specified. Smaller volume and shorter distance pipelines are not as competitive with unit trains. Related to this generalization is the notion that if a region's coal demand from electric utilities is not now large or is growing slowly, then the volume of coal required is less likely to be enough to justify a high volume pipeline. In some cases, then, slurry pipelines can lead to lower delivered coal prices to electric utilities. These savings in delivered coal prices lead to cost savings for those consumers of electricity in regions where slurry pipelines appear viable.

• Research Organization: ICF, Inc., Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC01-78PE70222
• OSTI ID: 6562573
• Report Number(s): DOE/PE/70222-1; ON: DE82015227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
013000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Transport
Handling
& Storage
015000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290700 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Transport & Storage
294001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
DISPERSIONS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FREIGHT PIPELINES
FUEL OILS
FUEL SLURRIES
FUELS
LAND TRANSPORT
LIQUID FUELS
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PIPELINES
PRICES
PRODUCTION
RAIL TRANSPORT
SLURRIES
SLURRY PIPELINES
SUSPENSIONS
TRANSPORT