FutureGen Find a Home in Motton, Illinois: Clean Coal Power

FutureGen finds a home in Illinois. The FutureGen Alliance announced on December 18^th that the final site selected for the prototype coal power plant of the future is Motton, Illinois. The near zero emission coal fired plant is one of the Bush administration's investments to reduce dependence on foreign oil and greenhouse gas emissions.

The project is criticized by many on both sides of the climate change debate. One of the largest criticisms is that the process used to sequester carbon dioxide is expensive. In my best scientific voice, "Well Duh!" It is a prototypical plant. The plant is a research tool to be used to determine the viability of carbon dioxide sequestering technology.

Another criticism is the use of coal. Coal is the most abundant source of energy available at this time. China, now the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions will continue to use coal. Sharing successful clean coal technology with China and other countries will greatly reduce global pollution.

FutureGen will use coal to produce electricity, hydrogen and recycle combustion heat for coal gasification where carbon dioxide (co2) can be separated and sequestered. The CO2 will initially be injected into low production oil fields to increase well production. If the prototype plant proves to be economically viable, deep ocean wells can be used to sequester the CO2 in the future.

Hydrogen produced will be used to fuel vehicles. Hydrogen is a zero emission fuel if the process used to produce the hydrogen has zero emissions. The Bush administration has provided funding for research for better hydrogen storage systems and fuel cells to power vehicles. Every car manufacturer has fuel cell vehicles that will be in production the next few years. Combining hydrogen powered vehicles with clean coal technology greatly improves the positive environmental impact that can result from FutureGen technology.

Coal gasification is the first step in synthetic fuel production. Synthetic fuels can be used to produce plastics and other products. Just as the space program provided various products taken for granted today, FutureGen can provide new products for our future. The new products from coal are limited only by the imagination of chemical engineers.

Coal gasification with CO2 sequester can provide clean energy until other alternate energy sources can be sufficiently implemented. Proponents of biomass, solar, wind, tidal and nuclear energies seem to miss that point. FutureGen is a step towards energy independence and a cleaner world, not an energy panacea.

Is FutureGen the best investment for a clean energy future? Only time will tell, but investing in clean coal has huge potential to improve near our term energy supply without wrecking the economy.

Sources: FutureGen Alliance press release 12/18/07, FutureGenalliance.org

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