”Our goal is to be a major stakeholder in projects that ensure the environmentally sound and efficient use of coal, methane gas and alternative fuels.”
J. Brett Harvey
Coal provides nearly 50 percent of the nation’s electricity. Because this resource is critical to maintaining the way of life enjoyed by so many Americans, CONSOL Energy operates the largest private research and development facilities devoted exclusively to coal’s utilization and production. Our team of scientists, engineers and technicians are leading the evaluation and implementation of emerging technologies to ensure the efficient use of coal for generations to come.
Through partnerships with the U.S. Department of Energy and other government and private agencies, we conduct research to develop and test technologies for reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants. These studies are examining mercury emissions from power plants and sequestering carbon dioxide in unmineable coal seams. We are also developing technological advances in controlling power plant emissions and methane emissions from mines and drilling sites to address concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and help to establish a sound scientific basis for energy and environmental policies.
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Environmental Initiatives
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Energy Initiatives
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Interested in learning more about the work we are doing to fuel the future?
Click on one of the topics below.
For more about the projects lead by CONSOL R&D, click here.
In July 2008, CONSOL Energy announced a partnership with Synthesis Energy Systems (SES) to build an $800 million coal gasification plant near Benwood, W.Va.
The plant will convert low-rank coal and coal wastes from CONSOL's nearby Shoemaker Mine into 720,000 metric tons of methanol annually for the chemical industry, using SES’s proprietary U-Gas technology. The methanol will also be used to produce about 100 million gallons of 87-octane gasoline annually.
U-Gas technology gasifies coal without the harmful emissions associated with coal combustion plants due to
a process by which carbon dioxide byproducts from coal are sequestered underground, which helps lessen the environmental impact.
The Benwood plant will include an Ohio River terminal facility where products will be stored in tanks for off-loading to barges for ultimate delivery.
Completion of the facility is expected in 2012.
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CONSOL Energy is working with the U.S. Department of Energy and West Virginia University to study ways to store carbon dioxide (CO2) in unmineable coal seams. The process is called CO2 sequestration.
Our latest CO2 sequestration test involves two coal seams located in Marshall County, W.Va.:
a mineable seam, with an unmineable seam below it. First, we use a horizontal drilling process to drain
coalbed methane from both seams. Once we’ve drained between 50 to 60 percent of the methane, we inject CO2 into the lower, unmineable coal seam. This, in turn, displaces more methane, which we can continue to extract. The total combined coalbed methane flow is over 400,000 cubic feet per day.
Because the two coal seams are separated by 600 feet of shale and other rocks, the CO2 will not migrate from the unmineable seam to the mineable one. In fact, the CO2 eventually absorbs into the surrounding rock and becomes elemental carbon.
There are several advantages to CO2 sequestration. The process reduces potential methane emissions from coal mining. While at the same time it produces usable methane, a natural gas, for energy use.
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CONSOL R&D has developed a potentially low-cost method for controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. In partnership with Allegheny Energy Supply, Alstom Power, Environmental Elements Corp., Carmeuse Lime and the U.S. Department of Energy, we built and operated a two megawatt slip-stream test plant at the Allegheny Energy Mitchell Station.
The Low Temperature Mercury Control Process acts by cooling the flue gas temperature to around 220 degrees Fahrenheit, then absorbing mercury from the carbon in the fly ash. In addition, we inject magnesium hydroxide into the mix in order to also absorb sulfur trioxide, a corrosive precursor of sulfuric acid.
Our tests showed that the Low Temperature Mercury Control Process can capture up to 90 percent of the mercury in the coal before it can be emitted. The technology to do this is less expensive, on a dollar per pound removed basis, than the alternative method of activated carbon injection and it can be retrofitted to both existing and new power plants.
Full-scale field trials are currently underway at Unit 1 of the PPL Martins Creek Power Station.
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CONSOL R&D is experimenting with ways to create electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In late 2006, in partnership with Ingersoll-Rand Energy Systems and the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, we installed an ultra-low-emission 70 kilowatt microturbine generator on a large underground coal mine in Pennsylvania. The generator is fueled by coal mine methane vented as part of
the mine’s ventilation system.
Methane is the second most important non-water greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential 21 times
as great as that of carbon dioxide (CO2). Coal mine methane accounts for about 10 percent or all anthropogenic methane emissions in the United States.
Through this research we have successfully captured methane in the generator and converted it into electricity. When operating at 95 percent capacity, the generator produces 583 megawatt hours of electricity and consumes 7,954,000 cubic feet of methane – keeping the equivalent of 3,522 short tons of CO2 out of the air each year.
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