Coal-to-diesel plant details emerge

The Billings Gazette ^ | 7/13/2007

[Rick_Michael]

By Gazette News Services RAWLINS - Construction of a proposed plant in eastern Carbon County to turn coal into diesel will take three years, $2 billion and 2,000 temporary workers, a company official said.

Kate Perez, spokeswoman for Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC, said the proposed plant is pegged to sit at the mouth of an underground coal mine that is located seven miles north of Interstate 80 between Hanna, Medicine Bow and Elk Mountain.

Medicine Bow Fuel and Power is a subsidiary of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC, the main company behind the plant.

The coal would be converted into ultra-low-sulfur diesel, among other things.

A coal-gasification process would turn the coal into synthetic gas, which would then be cleaned so nearly all of the sulfur and carbon dioxide are removed. The syngas would then be liquefied.

Sinclair Oil Co. has agreed to purchase the diesel.

Once the plant is completed, which is projected for 2011, it should employ about 300 permanent workers, including accountants, security employees, heavy equipment operators, miners, mechanics, engineers, lab technicians and a host of other positions.

"We plan to offer job training, which people get excited about," Perez said Tuesday during a public meeting about the plant. "They may say, 'Hey, I don't want to work at McDonald's anymore, I'd like to be a welder.' We can help them do that."

As with many companies in Carbon County, Perez said Medicine Bow Fuel & Power is concerned about housing the temporary and permanent workers who may not already live in the area, Perez said.

Perez said Medicine Bow Fuel & Power is considering temporary housing facilities, commonly known as man camps, that could house up to 500 people on site during peak construction times and winter months.

The company also is considering a chartered busing service to take workers from areas around Carbon County to the coal-to-liquids plant, she said.

DKRW has numerous environmental permits it must obtain in order to proceed with construction.

[griswold3]

The price of diesel has increased 112% since 2003.
Do you really think this will make anything cheaper?

[mmanager]

I work for the mining company that will supply the coal for this project. It is our future hopefully.

Probably won’t make it cheaper but less dependent in the long run.

[Rick_Michael]

I too was wondering the overall price. Given the future unknowns of petro in the middle east, I think no one knows what’s ahead of us.

[Fee]

I rather pay $ 5 per gallon for the next 100 years than depend on ME oil that may cause gas prices to fluctuate between $ 3 to $ 15 per gallon in the next 100 years. Furthermore no matter what happens in the ME we will always have coal, while ME oil may not be available. Remember government subsidies will always insure certain critical strategic items will be available to the nation, free market planning limited by democracy does not.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Coal to liquids, or coal to electricity -- either way, it makes sense for the U.S. to use it's abundant coal reserves to become less dependent on foreign oil. (Except for Canadian oil of course -- most of us are happy to keep on selling it to you. ;-) )

Here's a link to another thread that says that it's better to generate electricity with the coal, and then use the electricity for plug-in-hybrids (tread started by Red Badger):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1847199/posts

And here's a chart from that thread (for those who think that the CO2 emissions matter):

[GOP_Party_Animal]

No word on it’s capacity. 100 barrels per day? 100,000?