Partnership weighs ‘syngas’ plant

Sherritt International, a diversified Canadian resource company, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board are exploring the prospect of building a C$1.5 billion plant in Alberta to produce synthetic gas from coal as a substitute for natural gas.

Under their Carbon Development Partnership, they hope to build and open a pit mine and gasification plant 50 miles southeast of Edmonton to process coal into “syngas” that would find a role as petrochemical feedstock or as a high-purity hydrogen.

A disclosure document said the initial gasification unit would be able to make 320 million cubic feet per day of syngas from coal and further refine it into 270 million cubic feet per day of hydrogen.

The plant could make up to 12,500 metric tons per day of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery.

Syngas and hydrogen could find an outlet among companies that operate steam-driven oil sands operations or those who upgrade the raw bitumen.

But the partners say they have not yet established that their product will be cheaper than natural gas.

A final decision to go forward will not be made until mid-year when preliminary engineering will give them a better grip on the economics of a plant.

For now, based on studies of other gasification plants around the world, they are optimistic a facility can open in 2011.

—Gary Park