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We have many times documented the fact, that, not only can Coal Ash and Flue Gas Desulfurization, FGD, wastes be utilized, actually in various ways, both in the making of Portland-type Cement, PC, and, as a reactive aggregate, in the making of Portland-type Cement Concrete, PCC, but, that the resulting Concrete is typically stronger and more resistant to chemical corrosion than conventional PCC.
A few of our previous reports demonstrating some of that can be accessed via:
West Virginia Coal Association | Pittsburgh Converts Coal Ash and Flue Gas into Cement | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 5,766,339 - Producing Cement from a Flue Gas Desulfurization Waste; 1998; Assignee: Dravo Lime Company, Pittsburgh; Abstract: Cement is produced by forming a moist mixture of a flue gas desulfurization process waste product containing 80-95 percent by weight calcium sulfite hemihydrate and 5-20 percent by weight calcium sulfate hemihydrate, aluminum, iron, silica and carbon (and) wherein said source of aluminum and iron comprises fly ash"; and:
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We have, of course, beaten to death the fact that China, in partnership with a number of notable western partners, including, as just one quick example,:
West Virginia Coal Association | GE Converts China Coal to Methanol | Research & Development; concerning: "One of the World’s Largest Coal-to-Olefins Gasification Units Starts Up in China; August 12, 2010; The gasification unit at one of the world’s largest coal-to-olefins projects successfully started up at the China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Co. Ltd.’s project in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. The gasification unit uses advanced coal gasification technology provided by GE (NYSE:GE)";
General Electric, have embarked on a national program of industrial development targeted on converting their abundant Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals.
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Despite our recent reports on the subject, we here, in our isolate little frontier outpost, remain uncertain as to the current status of Coal Ash regulation/designation by the US EPA.
As we have documented, there are legislative initiatives still "ou there", despite rejection of a proposed Coal Ash addendum to the Surface Transportation Act of 2012; more about which can be learned via:
Coal ash provision removed from transportation bill - Business, Government Legal News from throughout WV.
But, we miners and users of Coal, and we consumers of genuinely economical electricity, it might be heartening to note, are not the only ones who are lobbying for some sort of restraint to be put on the EPA's callous disregard for environmental and economic realities in their seeming drive to designate Coal Combustion Byproducts as hazardous waste.
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Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (S. 1751) - GovTrack.us
Since there has been a recent flurry of what we will politely and generously label as "editorial comment", concerning statements attributed to West Virginia's senior US Senator, Jay Rockefeller, about the issues surrounding the disposition of our Coal Combustion Byproducts, i.e., Coal Ash, and a recent Transportation Bill, appearing in the Coal Country press, and even in a trade publication or two we would have hoped would have been more up to genuine speed on the issue, we attempt herein to insert some objective facts into the so far subjective, and, from our perspective, under-informed, public discussion.
And, we do confess that we here aren't all that sophisticated in our understanding of government doings. It seems a dang shame, though, that we are the only ones, apparently, willing to make the effort to track down the pertinent information and at least take a stab at parsing it all out. Forgive us any misinterpretations.
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Since we've lately been touting the benefits of coupling various processes for the conversion of Coal into more versatile hydrocarbons with the seemingly-logical concept of utilizing Algae to convert any byproduct Carbon Dioxide into various sorts of useful things, like Algal bio-lipids that can be refined rather directly into Diesel fuel and Algal cellulosic Biomass that can be added to, and be converted right along with, the Coal going into the Coal conversion facility, we wanted to demonstrate herein how advanced that technology is really becoming.
First, we remind you of our reports:
West Virginia Coal Association | Chevron Algae Convert CoalTL CO2 into Diesel Fuel | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent 7,838,272 - Increased Yield in GTL Processing via Conversion of CO2 to Diesel via Microalage; 2010; Assignee: Chevron USA; Abstract: The present invention is generally directed to systems and methods for integrating gas-to-liquids (GTL) processing with biofuels production. In some embodiments of the present invention, carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by GTL processing is used to support grovel (via photosynthesis) of microalgae. In some such embodiments, the microalgae can be further processed to yield a diesel fuel that can be used either by itself, or mixed with fuel produced by the GTL processing (and) wherein the gas-to-liquids plant is operable for producing transportation fuels (and wherein) reforming of coal yields syngas according to the following equation: C + H2O = H2 + CO";and:
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