Mining Industry Converts Coal to Clean-Burning Natural Gas | Mining Exploration News
A Cambridge start-up that converts coal to clean-burning natural gas will take its cutting-edge process to the next step, building a $25 million demonstration plant near Fall River to ready their technology for full-scale commercial production.
“This is where we are going to demonstrate our technology to the world,” said Andrew Perlman, GreatPoint’s chief executive. “This is going to be the most leading-edge gasification center anywhere.”
The development of the demonstration plant and research center represents a milestone not only for the company, but also the state and its burgeoning alternative energy sector. GreatPoint is considered among the nation’s most promising alternative energy firms, and recently raised $100 million from investors, one of the industry’s biggest venture capital rounds ever.
For Massachusetts, GreatPoint’s selection of Brayton Point over sites in three other states further solidifies its position as a leading center of alternative energy technology, an emerging sector that employs an estimated 14,000 in the state. It also indicates the sector is maturing, moving closer to commercial production that could mean even more growth for the sector and state employment.
“This isn’t a few hippies in the backwoods,” said Warren Leon, director of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, which finances alternative energy projects. “GreatPoint is showing that creative new technologies are starting to hit the big time.”
The demonstration plant will produce natural gas on a small scale as a way to test and refine the process for full-scale commercial production. Once the technology proves ready for commercial production, Massachusetts could reap another benefit too: lower energy costs. Massachusetts companies and residents pay among the highest natural gas rates in the country. Perlman said his firm’s process can produce natural gas for about half the cost it now sells for.
“One of our major economic challenges is the high cost of natural gas,” said state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, “and this is potentially a game-changing technology.”
GreatPoint uses a proprietary catalyst to convert coal, petroleum coke, a refining byproduct, and organic material, such as switch grass, into methane, a clean-burning natural gas that can be transported through existing pipelines and burned in existing equipment. The process prevents the release of carbon dioxide, a so-called greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, and captures other byproducts, such as sulfur, which can be reused by chemical makers.
Filed under: Energy, Fossil Fuels, Science | Tagged: , coal-to-gas, Massachusetts
