Coal gasification

Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas–a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and water vapor (H₂O)–from coal and water, air and/or oxygen.

Historically, coal was gasified using early technology to produce coal gas (also known as "town gas"), which is a combustible gas traditionally used for municipal lighting and heating before the advent of industrial-scale production of natural gas.

In current practice, large-scale instances of coal gasification are primarily for electricity generation, such as in integrated gasification combined cycle power plants, for production of chemical feedstocks, or for production of synthetic natural gas. The hydrogen obtained from coal gasification can be used for various purposes such as making ammonia, powering a hydrogen economy, or upgrading fossil fuels.

Alternatively, coal-derived syngas can be converted into transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel through additional treatment via the Fischer-Tropsch process or into methanol which itself can be used as transportation fuel or fuel additive, or which can be converted into gasoline by the methanol to gasoline process. Methane from coal gasification can be converted into LNG for use as a fuel in the transport sector.

In the past, coal was converted to make coal gas, which was piped to customers to burn for illumination, heating, and cooking. High prices of oil and natural gas are leading to increased interest in "BTU Conversion" technologies such as gasification, methanation and liquefaction. The Synthetic Fuels Corporation was a U.S. government-funded corporation established in 1980 to create a market for alternatives to imported fossil fuels (such as coal gasification). The corporation was discontinued in 1985.

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