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Oil a Nd g a s A New VisioN – The potential for coal gasification and coal chemical industry development in Mongolia by Leo Liu, MBA, CFA Gasification is a process through which coal can be transformed into power, chemicals, hydrogen and transportation fuels, as well, the resulting carbon by-product from the coal is captured for sequestration or for enhanced oil recovery. Currently, the main markets for gasification, as judged by analysis of current and planned projects, are: • Electricpower • Chemicals • Liquidsfuels(orcoal-to-liquids,primarilytransportationfuels) • Gaseousfuels(syntheticnaturalgasorhydrogenH2,forexample) Feedstock Flexibility – Several gasification plant designs have been developed to accommodate various grades of coal in additional to waste and biomass. The main feedstock could be lignite coal, the lowest grade of coal with a high moisture content which is typically burned in power plants for electrical production. High Efficiency – Steam produced by the gasification process can often be effectively integrated to meet a chemical plant's needs, increasing efficiency. Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants offer efficiencies better than other coal power plants. Figure 1. World Gasification Capacity and Planned Growth – by Product NEW COAL ChEMICAL INDUStRY: StABLE APPLICAtION The coal chemical industry can be divided into traditional coal chemical and new coal chemical industries. The former mainly includes production of synthetic ammonia, coke, calcium carbide and other sub-sectors, while the new coal chemical industry produces petroleum substitutes, including ethylene glycol, oil, olefins (ethylene and propylene) etc. 50,000 Planning Construction Operating Syngas (MWth) 40,000 30,000 Figure 2. New Coal chemical industry supply chain 20,000 IGCC Electric Power 10,000 Urea Chemicals Liquid fuels Power Gaseous fuels Compared to other technologies that either produce the same products or use the same feed stocks, gasification has several advantages that make it an attractive technology both now and for the future. According to the US Department of Energy, the major advantages include: Product flexibility – A variety of commodities can be produced from synthesis gas (syngas), the primary product of gasification. Prominent among these are methanol, and ammonia, both of which are important as key building blocks for further chemical synthesis. Low Emissions – Gasification systems can achieve dramatically lower emissions levels as the syngas produced is at higher temperature and pressure, which allows for easier removal of sulfur (SOX), nitrous oxides (NOX) and lends itself to efficient carbon dioxide (CO2) removal as well. 50 www.resourceworld.com Synthetic Ammonia Gasification Synthesis Gas (CO,H2) Ethylene Glycol Sodium Carbonate Polyester Natural Gas Coal Methanol Dimethyl Ether Olefins Indirect Coal Liquefaction Direct Coal Liquefaction Oil Of the "coal-to-" processes, coal-to-chemicals is potentially the most stable, having been demonstrated by several projects to be: Profitable – Many chemicals are high-value products and gasification provides the option of using relatively inexpensive coal NOVEMBER 2012