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Sheets, Brent J.

Publications and source records attributed to Sheets, Brent J..

Making Coal Relevant for Small Scale Applications: Modular Gasification for Syngas/Engine CHP Applications in Challenging Environments

The proposed project includes construction and operation of a power plant consisting of coal gasification facilities and engine generators which would produce electrical power and heat. The recovered heat and a portion of the carbon dioxide emissions from the engines would support an onsite greenhouse and other heat and power customers. The proposed project site is located on the Marathon North Pole Terminal property in North Pole, Alaska. Two gasifiers would convert the coal into syngas, which would be fed through a gas cleanup train and then combusted in six reciprocating engines driving electric generators. Heat recovery on the engine cooling loops and exhaust trains would provide heat to a glycol/water circulation system for use in the greenhouse, in the Marathon facilities and for other customers. Natural gas would fuel two additional engine generators and would also be available to supplement the syngas-fired engines.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Making coal relevant for small scale applications: Modular gasification for syngas/engine CHP applications in challenging environments

Small-scale coal gasification technology, coupled to a reciprocating engine generator, has the potential for making coal a cost competitive resource for meeting the flexible energy needs and resiliency requirements of utilities across the United States. To maintain grid stability and reliability, electrical generation must be regulated to match the load at the proper voltage and frequency. With the expansion of intermittent sources into the grid, such as wind and solar, frequency and voltage regulation become increasingly important and challenging. This work presents the results of a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) effort to detail the engineering and preliminary economics of a small-scale, air blown, fixed-bed gasification process, operating at near-atmospheric pressure, with gas cleanup to provide syngas and pyrolysis liquid fuels for use in reciprocating engine generators for combined heat and power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A very detailed assessment of capital and operating costs allows the evaluation of a levelized cost of electricity of 208.06 $/MWh, which can be reduced through the selling of by-products (steam for heating purposes and pyrolysis liquids to be used for power generation in an existing diesel engine). Here, a combined sensitivity analysis, based on the Monte Carlo approach, has been carried out to evaluate the effects of the uncertainties (capital and operating costs and plant annual availability) on the LCOE.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗