WYOMING COAL/LIQUID TEST FINISHED

A U.S. Government cofunded coal liquefaction project in Wyoming has completed its longest test run. The $72 million Wyoming Clean Coal demonstration program near Gillette, Wyo., completed a 16 day continuous run Apr. 29. Owned and operated by Encoal Corp., Gillette, it is one of 46 cofunded by the Department of Energy under the government's clean coal technology program.

June 14, 1993

2 min read

A U.S. Government cofunded coal liquefaction project in Wyoming has completed its longest test run.

The $72 million Wyoming Clean Coal demonstration program near Gillette, Wyo., completed a 16 day continuous run Apr. 29. Owned and operated by Encoal Corp., Gillette, it is one of 46 cofunded by the Department of Energy under the government's clean coal technology program.

The project involves extracting liquid fuels from low grade western coals that in turn can be substituted for No. 6 fuel oil. Using a technology developed by SGI International, La Jolla, Calif., the demonstration plant partly gasifies coal to recover the low sulfur liquid fuel and a low sulfur solid fuel that has a higher heating value than the feedstock coal.

The project test run consisted of processing more than 5,000 tons of Powder River basin coal to produce more than 125,000 gal of liquid fuel and several thousand tons of solid product fuel. Scheduled to operate for only 250 hr, Encoal kept the plant on line for another 150 hr to capitalize on the run's early success, overcoming mechanical problems that in the past limited test runs to 7 days.

Encoal has a contract to sell Texpar Energy, Waukesha, Wis., the liquid fuel to be used in industrial boilers. Most of the solid fuel has been stockpiled on site for stability and handling tests, with samples shipped to potential customers.

Prior to the record test run, 12 test runs were conducted at the plant for a total operating time of 1,200 hr. Design and construction of the 1,000 ton/day plant were completed in April 1992 within budget and 3 months ahead of schedule. Under Encoal's agreement with DOE, test runs will continue through September 1994.

The plant technology is owned by TEK-KOL, a partnership of SGI and Zeigler Coal Holding Co.'s SMC Mining Co. Encoal is a unit of SMC. DOE's Morgantown, W. Va., energy technology center oversees the project, and DOE is funding half the project's cost.