 The mainstream press is reporting that Paducah may be the site of the first in the nation coal to liquification (CTL) plant. Clean Coal Power, LLC, received approval from the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet for incentives up to $550 million. The company, with its principle office in Marion Illinois, is also considering sites in Missouri and Illinois. The site in Kentucky is attractive because of access to the West Kentucky coalfields, river and rail transport and the availability of a two mile deep aquifer.
While their process hasn’t been released to the press, it will probably be a form of the Fischer-Tropsch process. Fischer-Tropsch isn’t new. According to Wikipedia, the first US patent for the “Fischer-Tropsch” process of converting coal from a solid to a liquid to use as a fuel source was filed in the US in 1926.
“Since the invention of the original process by the German researchers Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1920s, many refinements and adjustments have been made, and the term "Fischer-Tropsch" now applies to a wide variety of similar processes (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch chemistry). Fischer and Tropsch filed a number of patents, e.g. US patent no. 1,746,464, applied 1926, published 1930 [3].
According to a 2006 article, “Liquifaction-Expanding the Market for Coal” by Kraig R. Naasz published in the Coal Journal, other countries are already working on similar projects to the one proposed by Clean Coal Power. In 2006, China, the world’s largest coal producer, announced it was investing 15 billion in a facility in Mongolia using a method that the Chinese say their scientists have designed. Their goal is to convert one million tons of coal into liquid fuel by 2007, then 20 million tons of coal by 2020.
The Philippines are looking at an investment of $2.5 billion to produce 60,000 barrels a day. The Philippines’ plan to create 15% of the fuel needed for transportation from one plant. South Africa has a CTL plant already in operation which was born during apartheid sanction days. That plant has produced over 700 million barrels of synthetic fuel since 1980.
The Kentucky plant would produce 40,000 barrels of fuel a day when fully operational. Steam from the operation would generate electricity that could be sold into the electric grid. Liquid coal could become fuels – kerosene, diesel fuel, chemicals for detergents, synthetic fiber, rubber and lubricating oil.
The problem with CTL is that it produces carbon dioxide, which is a major greenhouse gas that is contributing to global warming. Clean Coal Power proposes to use the two mile deep aquifer in the region to dispose of greenhouse gases and carbon waste.
If Kentucky gets the plant, it will be located in western McCracken County in the 1740 acre Riverport West industrial park. The plant will employ 1500 workers when full production starts. Building it will require 1500 construction workers.
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