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Accelergy project could use natural gas Coal biomass to liquids process being studied for Tyonek could use some gas in process to produce primarily jet fuel from coal Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The project Accelergy Corp. is looking at to use coal to produce liquids fuels — primarily jet fuel — at Tyonek could use some natural gas in the process, providing an industrial user for North Slope natural gas in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. That could potentially solve a problem with a pipeline to Cook Inlet — the volumes of residential and utility use are so relatively small that the tariff on the gas would have to be high to cover costs of the line.
Rocco Fiato, Accelergy’s chief technology officer, told Petroleum News in a Nov. 8 phone interview, that while coal is the fundamental resource, natural gas can be used in the process.
Accelergy has looked at the gas option because of coalbed methane, “basically the natural gas that’s co-produced in the production of coal,” Fiato said. In coal mining it’s a waste product, “there’s typically very little to do with it when you’re mining coal; you typically don’t invest in the infrastructure to co-produce natural gas. However, when you do have it, our technology is actually very well suited for co-processing it with coal.”
That opportunity might be available in Cook Inlet, he said, because of proposals to bring in North Slope natural gas on a pipeline.
Volume could be significant A facility producing some 60,000 barrels per day of jet fuel — basically a 100,000-bpd facility producing 60 percent jet fuel — could co-convert “almost 200 million standard cubic feet a day of natural gas,” Fiato said.
He said the number is variable “because the technology that we’re talking about can function with no natural gas. … However, when you do have natural gas, you can use that natural gas to cheaply produce hydrogen … which can be utilized very effectively in our coal-biomass conversion technology.”
But 200 million cubic feet is what a 12-train facility would use.
A fully integrated 12-train facility wouldn’t happen immediately, Fiato said, but “would be spread out over several years.”
Each 6,000 to 8,000 bpd train would use roughly 20 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, he said.
The plan for Alaska, Fiato told a joint meeting of the Alaska Legislature’s House and Senate Energy committees Oct. 13, is “an 8,000 barrel a day pioneer project.”
Every time you build a 6,000 to 8,000 bpd train, “you would consume an additional 20 million (standard cubic feet) a day of gas,” Fiato said Nov. 8.
He said the rate at which additional trains would be built is “way beyond” where the project is now, “but the rate at which that would happen, would really depend on the project developers and how well we do with the military, because as part of this we intend to work with the military.”
Volumes needed Fiato said Accelergy’s goal is not to supplant local refineries supplying jet fuel to the Anchorage airport, but to fill a gap in what those refineries can produce, a gap now filled with imported jet fuel.
As Fiato told legislators in October, Accelergy is working with the military. The company’s goal is to produce fully synthetic jet fuel which meets military requirements.
He said Nov. 8 that Cook Inlet has been looked at by both the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy because of its plentiful coal and its proximity to markets.
Accelergy is interested in the area because the company “has a very efficient technology for converting coal into liquid fuel and specifically jet fuel.”
Adding North Slope natural gas to the mix is “a very early idea,” Fiato said, which would add a lot of complexity and require extensive discussions and negotiations. Right now, “it’s a very interesting opportunity to think about utilizing North Slope natural gas to help convert Alaskan coal.” What’s next? Accelergy would contribute half of the funding necessary for a study to certify the coal at Tyonek for the project, said John McClellan, who is working the project on behalf of Tyonek.
McClellan said Tyonek is looking to the state’s emerging energy technology fund for the other half.
The fund has been established, he said, and the governor will appoint a three-member advisory board and then regulations for the fund will have to be approved.
Once those two things are done, the Alaska Energy Authority, which is running the fund, will put out a request for proposals and Tyonek will propose the certification process.
McClellan said he is hoping that in the February-March timeframe a project will be picked and an award made.
Fiato said Accelergy is looking for state participation in the study because any new technology developer in North America right now “has a healthy skepticism” because of changes and proposed changes in U.S. energy law and evolving regulations around renewables and clean fuel.
Because of that uncertainty, Accelergy’s investors, while very interested in projects such as Tyonek, believe “that the best way to tell if a local jurisdiction is interested is in their ability and willingness to commit to partial sponsorship of work.”
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