Orano warns of financial problems at Niger uranium plant
The West African nation increasingly seeks new partners, such as Russia, in its mining sector.
A California company says it has discovered a new way to make liquid fuel from coal without consuming water or producing carbon dioxide.
SRI International said researchers used natural gas to provide hydrogen needed to convert coal to “syngas” – a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen – which is converted to methanol for use as transportation fuels.
The process differs from conventional coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology which SRI says produces only a fraction of the hydrocarbons needed for fuel and requires extensive recycling.
The company claims the capital costs for a plant using its technology would be less than half of a conventional CTL plant.
“The implications of this research are expansive, including enhancing US energy security through the use of domestic carbon sources,” said Robert Wilson, director, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory at SRI International. “The process can also dramatically reduce the environmental footprint associated with alternative transportation fuels.”
According to the World Coal Association, coal can be turned into a liquid and used as an alternative to oil using two methods, direct liquefaction or indirect liquefaction. The latter is the “syngas” method described above.
Petroleum and diesel can be produced, as well as synthetic waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, methanol and dimethyl ether (DME).
South Africa is the only country with a commercially-viable CTL industry. Coal-derived fuel supplies about 30% of the country’s gasoline and diesel needs.
5 Comments
Lewis
Sounds promising- but Istill have my bets on the clear choice Coal to liquids (CTL) “Syntroleum”.
It has zero sulphur, is ultraclean diesel fuel produced from natural gas using the syntroleum process. The process can also convert coal into clean liquid fuels that can be easily tranported.
1 ton bituminous coal= 2 barrels fuel
US coal = 3 million tons/day = 6 million barrels/day.
that translates to 1.5 times total US diesel use.
Lets not forget too that nucleur power plants provide more than 72 % of carbon free electricity.
I want to see more research on uranium fuel pellets. Five of them can meet a household’s electricity needs for a year.
NaveenRai
Thank you for sharing this information.
It will really helpful to solve my confusion
Process $ Chemical Engineering
Jimnbubba
Let’s roll !!
Reg Liverpool
The UK has 400 years ofmcoal in the ground lets dig it up soon as
Luis Mejìa
Excellent, these is the future