Pilot program in Virginia aims to turn oil from tobacco plants into non-fossil jet fuel

A Virginia company has created a pilot program to extract oils from tobacco plants "to create non-fossil jet fuel," Denice Thibodeau reports for the Danville Register & Bee. Danville-based Tyton BioEnergy Systems begins its process with whole tobacco plants, some as high as 15 feet, that are "fed into a hammermill to shred the plant into small pieces. Once chopped up, the plants travel through ducts to the processing lab, where the equipment separates out the various elements of the plants—a sugar syrup, oil, proteins and bio char." Peter Majeranowski, the company’s president, told Thibodeau, “There is zero waste. That’s a big advantage.” (Register & Bee photo by Matt Bell: Tyton BioEnergy Systems grows tobacco to be used in the lab, where the equipment separates out a sugar syrup, oil, proteins and bio char)

Connor Hartman, chief operating officer and vice president of business development, said "the difference between Tyton’s process and more traditional biomass processing techniques is that there is no pretreatment required and far fewer processing steps," Thibodeau writes. "The plants have no nicotine, are not grown to taste good as a smoking product and are disease resistant. Different types of tobacco plants are bred for different uses." Hartman said "an acre of tobacco raised for high-sugar output can produce three times more sugar than an acre of corn, making it an excellent source for ethanol."

Chemical company breaks new ground, creates fuel from waste

Chemical company INEOS Bio "announced Wednesday that it had produced commercial quantities of ethanol from wood waste and other nonfood vegetative matter," Matthew Wald reports for The New York Times. So far, only a small amount has been produced, but "if ethanol can be produced at reasonable cost from abundant nonfood sources, like yard trimmings or household trash, it could displace fuel made from oil, and that oil, and its carbon, could stay in the ground, reducing the amount greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, experts say." 

"The Department of Energy hailed the development as the first of a kind," Wald reports. Energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, said in a statement: “Unlocking the potential for the responsible development of all of America’s rich energy resources is a critical part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy.” 

Using methane gas from a nearby landfill, "The process begins with wastes — wood and vegetative matter for now, municipal garbage later — and cooks it into a gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen," Wald reports. "Bacteria eat the gas and excrete alcohol, which is then distilled. Successful production would eliminate some of the 'food versus fuel' debate in the manufacturing of ethanol, which comes from corn." Peter Williams, chief executive of INEOS, told Wald, "Biomass gasification has not been done like this before, nor has the fermentation." (Read more)

Air Force drops support for coal-to-liquid fuels

In another policy shift resulting from this year's change in the presidency, "The Air Force has quietly dropped plans to facilitate construction of coal-to-liquids fuel plants under an effort to use domestically produced alternative jet fuels," Ben Geman reports for Energy and Environment News.

The Air Force had been trying to develop a coal-to-liquid industry as a secure, domestic source, and promoters of the industry see military supply contracts "as a way to ensure a market for expensive commercial-scale CTL plants, which have not been built in the United States, although several companies have planned facilities," German reports. The Air Force uses 10 percent of the country's jet fuel and is still looking for alternative fuels, a spokesman said.

CTL plants have long been feasible, and are common in South Africa, but emit high levels of greenhouse gases, and carbon capture and sequestration technologies "have yet to be commercially deployed," German notes. (Read more; subscription required)

Burning coal in the ground to create gas looks promising to India, China; several pitfalls remain

Underground coal gasification, or burning coal in the ground to produce natural gas, "has the potential to tap enormous and otherwise inaccessible coal reserves -- and to slow the speed of climate change," David Winning reports in The Wall Street Journal. India and China "are investigating large-scale commercial projects ... building on pilot projects in the U.S. and elsewhere," writes Winn, the Beijing editor of Dow Jones Newswires. "The two countries are also looking at the possibility of capturing and permanently storing underground the gases produced, like carbon dioxide, which scientists believe cause global warming."
The Soviet Union pioneered the technology in the 1930s, and a power plant in Uzbekistan still uses it. "Now, thanks to higher oil and gas prices, underground coal gasification has again become cost-competitive," Winning reports. "Advances in the technology also make the practice more attractive. ... Underground gasification also presents an attractive alternative because it produces no sulfur oxide or nitrogen oxide, there are lower levels of mercury and particulates, and the ash stays underground. Experts say the technology is especially suitable for low-rank coals like lignites and sub-bituminous coal, which produce less heat when burned due to their high ash content, and are highly polluting."

There are, of course, major concerns about water pollution or land subsidence caused by "cavities created when the coal seams are drilled and burned out," Winning writes. Advocates say water can be protected by managing pressures in the coal seam, and subsidence can be avoided by choosing a site with strong rock layers. And what about the main concern about coal projects? "A large-scale project that includes carbon capture and sequestration ... is still years away," Winning reports. "The big hope is that carbon dioxide produced in the process can be pumped back into the void left by the combustion of the coal underground, and permanently sequestered from the atmosphere, helping to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. But ... carbon capture would likely make underground gasification more expensive." (Read more)

W.Va. coal-to-liquid plant to get state incentives; exec acknowledges carbon dioxide is a problem

The coal-to-liquid plant announced recently for West Virginia's Northern Panhandle is in line for $196 million in tax incentives from the state, and its chief promoter says it could face political obstacles because of its carbon-dioxide emissions.

The state's agreement with Appalachian Fuel LLC, a joint venture of Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy Inc. and Houston-based Synthesis Energy Systems Inc., offers $196 million in tax breaks, "about $3.3 million in government incentives for each of the 60 jobs the facility would provide," writes Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette, who got the state to release the agreement.

The plant, which would employ 200 to 300 people during its construction phase, "would convert coal to gas using a Synthesis proprietary technology called U-Gas," Ward writes. "Developers said 'it is expected' that this gas will be used to produce methanol for the chemical industry. In addition, they said, the plant would 'be capable' of converting methanol production to about 100 million gallons a year of 87-octane gasoline." Consol President Peter Lilly said on Bray Cary's West Virginia Media Holdings "Decision Makers" show last week that the technology is being used in China.

Ward notes, "Many scientific and environmental organizations oppose liquid coal projects. Even if greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel plants are captured and pumped underground, liquid coal fuels still generate more carbon dioxide emissions than traditional transportation fuels." Capture and underground storage of CO2, to prevent more global warming, is called carbon sequestration.

A commenter on Ward's story noted that Lilly "stated very candidly that it may be years before the CO2 sequestration problems can be solved. This suggests this project is highly speculative." Lilly told Cary that the answer to those questions will be political, and might push the plant past its target completion date of 2012. "The real issue is the feeling of the American people as it relates to the emissions of the carbon dioxide," he said. Referring to sequestration, he said, "That technology I'm not sure is quite proven out, so whether a five-year time frame is the exact time frame I'm unsure." Later in the interview, Lilly spoke of having sequestration technology available for export to other countries in 10 to 15 years. To watch the interview, click here. For more on Bray Cary, click here.

County in coalfield's heart promotes coal-to-liquid plant; illustrates need for journalists to bone up

In the heart of the Appalachian coalfield, a county government has chosen a site for what it says would be a $4 billion plant that would make 50,000 barrels a day of liquid fuel from coal for $61 a barrel and employ 750 people with an average salary of $50,000. Despite all those numbers and fanfare, Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford, right, acknowledged that "County officials have already received several proposals from interested companies, but they have not yet reviewed them," writes Cassondra Kirby-Mullins of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The site in Pikeville was chosen with an $850,000 study funded by grants from the state and the Appalachian Regional Commission, and Rutherford told the newspaper that state and federal grants would also fund infrastructure to support the plant. The local daily, the Appalachian News-Express, captures the limited news value and the promotional nature of the announcement: "Pike County officials announced Monday the completion of a study proving that sites are available for a coal-to-liquid (CTL) plant in Pike County . . . while citing no particular investor as being interested," writes Russ Cassady. (Read more) (News-Express photo, Encarta map)

The News-Express doesn't quote opponents of coal-to-liquid plants, but the Herald-Leader does. "Environmental groups are fiercely opposed," Kirby-Mullins reports. "They worry that liquid coal could contribute to global warming, citing researchers who say the process produces nearly twice the greenhouse gases that gasoline does, pumping carbon dioxide into the air — both when coal is turned into liquid, and when that liquid is burned in vehicles. They also fear coal-to-liquid plants would result in more strip mining and mountain­top removal, devastating surrounding environments." (Read more)

Meanwhile, a Kentucky congressman seems to be wondering whether a planned flight over mountaintop-removal mines was sabotaged, but the Interior Department says its pilot inadvertently left a switch on, killing the plane's battery, reports Ronnie Ellis of CNHI News Service. And in the Daily Yonder, Nell Levin of Nashville and the Tennessee Alliance for Progress describes and decries mountaintop-removal strip mining for coal, and debuts a song she wrote about it, with video and banjo by Ron Ault. (Read, watch and listen)

These stories illustrate the need for "Covering Climate Change and our Energy Future in Rural America," an Oct. 15 seminar that will conclude the annual Environmental Journalism Boot Camp of Michigan State University's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and kick off the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, all hosted by Virginia Tech at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Va., but including trips to the coalfield. The first signup deadline, for the boot camp, is July 28. For more information, click the links above or go here.

Virginia plans to put tobacco-settlement money into coal-to-liquid research facility in mountains

The Virginia Tobacco Commission, which distributes grants from the state's share of the national settlement with cigarette manufacturers, plans to give $1 million to a proposed coal research and development facility at the Lonesome Pine Business and Technology Park just east of Wise, near the Kentucky border. So reports Jodi Deal of The Coalfield Progress in Norton.

The commission will meet at Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap Oct. 25, County Administrator Glen “Skip” Skinner reminded county commissioners last week, with a big grin, noting that "he’d just arrived from a meeting of the commission’s Southwest Virginia Economic Development Committee," Deal wrote, quoting him: "They may be bringing us a present."

The committee endorsed a staff recommendation that the coal-research facility get $1 million and a proposed data center get $450,000. "Coal companies and Virginia Tech are expected to work together at the facility, which is eventually intended to support a coal-to-liquid fuels industry throughout the coalfields and seek out other alternative energy sources, according to the county’s application to the tobacco commission," Deal reports. "About 200 new high-wage jobs would likely be created at the facility, the grant application notes." (Read more, subscription required) UPDATE, Oct. 30: The Progress reports on the grant awards.