„Gasification is a proven manufacturing process that converts hydrocarbons such as coal, petroleum coke (petcoke), and biomass to a synthesis gas (syngas), which can be further processed to produce chemicals, fertilizers, liquid fuels, hydrogen, and electricity.(Gasification is not a combustion process.) Gasification is a flexible, commercially proven, and efficient technology that produces the building blocks for a range of highvalue products from a variety of low value feedstocks.

A hydrocarbon feedstock is injected with oxygen and steam into a high temperature pressurized reactor until the chemical bonds of the feedstock are broken. The resulting reaction produces the syngas. The syngas is then cleansed to remove impurities such as sulfur, mercury, particulates, and trace minerals. (Carbon dioxide can also be removed at this stage.) The clean syngas is then used to make either a single product such as fertilizer or multiple products such as hydrogen, steam, and electric power.

An Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant combines a gasification system with a modern, highly efficient “combined cycle” electric power system (consisting of one or more gas turbines integrated with a steam turbine). IGCC power plants are successfully operating worldwide and have been operating commercially in Indiana and Florida for more than a decade. Gasification enables the use of domestic coal, petcoke, and biomass to produce electricity with significantly reduced environmental impacts compared to traditional combustion technologies:

• Because the syngas is cleaned before combustion, gasification plants produce significantly fewer quantities of criteria air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
• Gasification enables the recovery of available energy from low-value materials (such as petcoke and municipal solid waste), thereby reducing both environmental impacts and disposal costs.
• The byproducts from gasification (sulfur and slag) are non-hazardous under federal law and are readily marketable.
• Gasification plants use significantly less water than coal combustion plants, and can be designed as zeroliquid water discharge facilities.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) can be captured from a gasification-based plant using commercially proven technologies prior to combustion of the synthesis gas in the gas turbines, making it the lowest cost, most efficient way of capturing CO2 from a fossil-fuel based power plant.

Gasification has a number of significant economic benefits. It converts low-value feedstocks to highvalue products, thereby increasing the use of available energy in the feedstocks while reducing disposal costs. If coal-based power plants are required to capture and sequester CO2, gasification projects are expected to have a cost advantage over conventional coal combustion technologies.

World gasification capacity is projected to grow by more than 70% by 2015. More than 80% of the growth will occur in Asia, with China expected to achieve the most rapid expansion in gasification worldwide. Despite high construction costs and uncertainty about U.S. government policies, incentives, and regulations, gasification is expected to grow in the United States due to high and rising oil and natural gas prices, more stringent environmental regulations, and a growing consensus that CO2 management will be required for electric power generation and manufacturing plants.

Gasification is not Combustion!!
Gasification is a partial oxidation (reaction) process which produces syngas comprised primarily of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). It is not a complete oxidation (combustion) process, which produces primarily thermal energy (heat) and solid waste, criteria air pollutants (NOx and SO2), and carbon dioxide (CO2).”

Download: Final whitepaper on Gasification (.pdf)