For a century, Texans have referred to oil as the “black gold” that built the state’s economy into a powerhouse following the discovery of the Spindletop well in 1901. But geologists and engineers are now taking a new look at an older energy source, which they say could make a comeback and take the black gold moniker away from oil.

The picture they paint is of a relatively clean, efficient – and independent – source that could create a bridge to a future in which truly clean and environmentally-friendly power generation is feasible.

Coal, which heated the fires of the early industrial revolution, made westward expansion possible through railroads and powered Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet, has in the last century taken a back seat to its liquid cousin, oil, even though it is still used to a great degree in power generation. But new technologies and applications could change all that and make coal a growth industry – with a potential windfall to the State of Texas .

This week, experts in the field gathered at a “Future of Coal Energy” Conference to lay out the possibilities they have glimpsed.

Scott Tinker , a University of Texas geology professor who also serves at the Texas State Geologist, said while most Americans want energy sources that are independent of oil, the prospect of converting to solar, wind or biomass energy is simply not there yet. Using a graphic of the United States , he showed just how large a solar panel array would have to be to handle 20 percent of the U.S. energy needs. The panel would have to be the size of the State of Arkansas . A big enough wind power farm, he said, would in a similar way take up the entire state of Colorado . Biomass would eclipse them both.

The best answer for a future energy need beyond oil, he said, is coal.

“Ironically, we have to re-invest in hydrocarbons to get beyond them,” he said.

Why coal?

Coal already provides just over 50 percent of all U. S. energy. But with new technologies coming online that could make it more efficient and cleaner, many predict coal could take on an even bigger role. “Some of the numbers we’re looking at with coal and coal resources are astronomical,” said Rep. Robby Cook ( D-Eagle Lake ), a member of the Governor’s Clean Coal Technology Council.

Energy needs can’t be supplied by one source. But the relative ability of various sources to meet future demand – as Tinker pointed out with his map graphic – is different.

When the oil age began, the U.S. had a big lead in proven reserves. Today, able to produce only about 40 percent of the oil it needs, America must rely on the politically and economically fragile Middle East . Coal, on the other hand, is abundant throughout the United States , with large deposits in Texas , as well as in Appalachia and several Western states. In contrast, there is almost no coal production in the Middle East .

It is estimated that the U.S. has 250 billion tons of coal reserve, of which 13 billion are in Texas . That total is 25 percent of world coal reserves, compared with two percent of the crude oil reserves and three percent of the natural gas reserves.

The annual production of coal in the U.S. is 1 billion tons. Even if that usage were to double, the U.S. could go 125 years without running out.

“We should be transitioning to hydrogen or a non-carbon source long before these reserves are used up,” said Butch Wright of the North American Coal Company. “We have the solution here. It’s time for us to come back home and eliminate all these concerns.”

Texas , currently the country’s largest user of coal in the country, uses more than it produces, 100 million tons to 45 million, with 13 billion in reserves. Although not all coal is the same, the state could in theory be self-sufficient in coal for 130 years.

Alternative uses of coal

While coal-burning power plants have been around forever, coal experts are looking to the future in alternative uses for it.

Coal can be processed through liquifaction, which creates a product that can be used to create chemicals or used as fuel. As fuel, liquifying only five percent of the available coal would equal all of the U.S. oil reserves.

Gasification turns coal to gas that can generate electricity in a process that burns coal much cleaner than traditional coal-fired generation plants. It could also be used for various clean fuels and the generation of hydrogen.

The gasification process, decades old, is only now coming into its own. Randall Rush, with Southern Company, said such gasified coal has a variety of uses once produced. The technology has really increased in the past decade.

Several ways coal generates income

Gasification for power generation could boost the Texas economy, but not just in energy production terms. A major byproduct of the process is carbon dioxide (CO2), which can be used in a process called enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Much of the world’s oil is unrecoverable using traditional means. Fields considered exhausted still have oil that is unrecoverable. EOR, however, makes recovery possible.

“When you produce oil, you leave most of it in the ground,” said Ian Duncan, with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin . “So there’s a lot of supply still out there.”

In the process of EOR, CO2 is pumped into a well, often mixed with water. In effect it pushes the oil out. The process would allow improved oil recovery, extending the life of current oil wells and reviving some previously abandoned ones. Even now, abandoned wells in the Permian Basin are being looked at for EOR, which could reenergize that area’s economy. Even with limited development so far, 80 percent of the world’s CO2 EOR is in the Permian Basin .

Looking at the figures for how much such recovered oil could sell at the current high prices, Duncan said, “It’s a hell of a lot of money – that’s a scientific term.”

Duncan said that if the state were to put in $20 million in tax incentives, it would easily get its money back on the taxes returned.

Environmental benefits

There’s also a side benefit of using CO2 in such a manner. Carbon dioxide is natural, being the prime molecule in the air humans exhale. But in large-scale, manufacturing-produced quantities, it is considered a greenhouse gas. Although some countries have declared it a pollutant, the U.S. government has not done so yet. But the industry sees the writing on the wall. Rich Rapagnani with General Electric, said environmental controls on CO2 are “just a matter of when, not if.”

One solution to excess CO2 is sequestration – putting it into the ground. Utilizing the proper impermeable rock layers at depths of at least 2,000 feet, CO2 can effectively be stored forever. And what better way to store it than EOR – which generates a by-product of crude oil?

Add to that the likelihood that pollution tax credits could result from an order to sequester CO2, companies could make money cleaning up the environment at the same time they’re making money producing additional oil.

Duncan said Texas is uniquely positioned to take advantage of all of those joint uses, because the Gulf Coast has both large-scale emissions of CO2 and a large scale storage capacity. The Permian Basin , additionally, has large scale storage capacity, as well as the infrastructure to bring in CO2 from other nearby sources.

One pipeline company, Kinder Morgan, has bought up old oil field rights and is getting into the EOR business on a large scale. The firm’s Paul Nunley said the Permian Basin benefits from a very big infrastructure, put in place in the 1980s. It also has the right kind of rock formations to allow the sequestration of CO2.

Looking to the future, conference participants said taking advantage of the latest technology could generate enormous tax benefits to the state. Chuck McDonald, of the Clean Coal Technology Council, said the top legislative priorities to make such a prospect a reality include improving permitting so that a company, for simply following the rules, gets a permit. A second priority is getting the Texas Railroad Commission to create a “roadmap to rapid development.”

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment