Page 50 - North American Clean Energy May June 2015

wind power

Wind Power Can Help Turn Coal Green

A solution for the coal industry utilizing

hydrogen and wind power

by Nick Ni

is a fuel gas mixture made up of hydrogen, carbon carbon dioxide as a raw material and transforms the carbon dioxide produced by the coal
SYNTHESIS GAS, OR SYNGAS FOR SHORT,
monoxide, and carbon dioxide which is used to make Synthetic Natural Gas or Synthetic industry into a resource. his is equivalent to a secondary use of coal as a power source.
Petroleum. Generally, it’s produced by the coal industry as a byproduct of the gasiication of
coal at very high temperatures. It is also an important industrial resource in the production Using wind to produce hydrogen
of ammonia or methanol, and although it has half the energy density of natural gas, it can Using wind power for hydrogen production through electrolysis is already a mature

be used as a fuel for Internal Combination Engines (ICE). Carbon dioxide emissions are an technology. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy conducted research into a new energy
issue for coal industry as he U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and international outlook and proposed employing wind and solar power to generate hydrogen as a fuel supply
community, in general, are highly concerned about carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Two hydrogen solutions were proposed: one to rely on a
emissions. Because of this, the coal industry has to pay more attention to greenhouse gas centralized grid infrastructure conducive to solar or wind power generation and the storage

emissions and regulation, and there may be some relief through the use of wind power.
of hydrogen, with a hydrogen pipeline or tanker delivering to various illing stations, and
the other based on illing stations distributed in environmentally natural conditions with
Wasted wind power
wind or solar powering local hydrogen plants. Because hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not yet
Wind power curtailment occurs when there is excess electric production or transmission commonplace, the program has not been implemented. Wind power hydrogen plants will

congestion, and it’s become a concern to the development of wind power generation. Since produce hydrogen when there is wind and will stop producing when the wind dies. Ultimately,
2013, the average curtailment rate has been 4%, but there are still some regions (Mid- production is not dependent on demand as hydrogen can be stored, and transported, so that
America and Hawaii) which have seen more than 10% curtailment. According to 2014 wind power can assist in eliminating dependency on the electricity market.
statistics, total U.S. installed wind capacity was 65,897MW. Combining an assumed wind Combining the three elements of trapping carbon dioxide, hydrogen production, and

turbine’s average work period of 2500 hours/year with a wind curtailment of 4%, suggests wind powered reverse water gas shift reaction; the road can be opened to the green low-
more than 6.6 billion KWh of possible wind power is wasted per year.
carbon development of the coal chemical industry.
here are several options which would solve the problem of abandoned or curtailed Coal-based methanol can be eliminated, for example, by using carbon dioxide wind

wind power: strengthening support for wind power grid construction, optimizing electrolysis hydrogen and trapping of carbon monoxide produced by the reverse shift
network operation, and controlling new capacity to improve the proportion of wind power reaction. his carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced methanol reduces the coal to
consumption. However, two factors make the short term improvement of this situation methanol demand on coal consumption. Using captured carbon dioxide improves the
unrealistic. First, wind power is inherently unstable, which introduces the problems of utilization of resources, resulting in a greener coal chemical industry.

limited capacity, minimized capability of low-voltage-ride-through, and the tendency to In 2014, there was 6.6 billion Kwh of wind power abandoned, and with this abandoned
drop-of from the network. Demand for electricity luctuates dramatically which makes
power, about 0.13 million tons of hydrogen can be generated. In the reversible shift
it diicult for wind power to adapt. Some economies like the European Union, with
reaction, 0.13 million tons of hydrogen will produce about 1.8 million tons of carbon
stable relations between countries, can efectively bufer the power grid interconnection monoxide, and consume about 2.8 million tons of carbon dioxide. he usual methanol

market cycle luctuations; however, this is not common. Secondly, the structure of production process uses 1.8 million tons of carbon monoxide and hydrogen to produce
installed capacity on the grid makes decreasing wind curtailment unrealistic. From a 2013 between 0.26 million and 2 million tons of methanol. his equates to a savings of 0.8
study, coal accounted for 39% of the electricity generation, natural gas accounted for
million tons of coal, which not only avoids the output of carbon dioxide, but also consumes
27%, nuclear power accounted for 19%, hydro power accounted for 7%, and wind power about 2.8 million tons of carbon dioxide.

accounted for 4% (http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/). Considering these Surrounding medium-sized cities, with production plants that recover carbon dioxide
percentages, adjusting the structure of installed capacity and utilizing renewable power through the use of wind and solar power will be more conducive to improving the
(e.g. wind or solar power) will be a long and arduous task.
surrounding environment. Having the wind power, coal power, electrolytic hydrogen
production, petrochemical, and coal chemical industries, all associated, solidly improves

Viewing coal’s carbon dioxide as a resource
the ability to resist market luctuations. hese elements combined, have the potential to
By combining the coal industries’ carbon dioxide emissions with wind power curtailment, transform the coal chemical industry into a greener, more environmentally friendly ield.
a possible solution appears. We need to think of carbon dioxide as a resource and although
discharged carbon dioxide harms environment, it is a solid basis for development.
Nick Ni is the manager at Verde LLC, a technology manufacturer based in Braintree, MA. Verde LLC

he Water-Gas Shift Reaction (WGSR), is a reaction of carbon monoxide and water
designs and deploys residential, commercial, and industrial scale electrolyzers used for renewable ener-
vapor which forms hydrogen and carbon dioxide. When this reaction is combined with
gy storage, industrial processing, transportation fuel, natural gas plant peaking and cooling, fertilizer
the gasiication of coal, it produces a pure hydrogen product, however, the importance of manufacture, and distributed generation. hey have an extensive network with national laboratories,
this reaction is that it’s reversible, only slightly endothermic (requiring thermal power), commercial/industrial partners, and universities as well as products in operation around the world.

and when coupled with water electrolysis, yields methane and oxygen. his inverse
transformation reaction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen therefore, gives value to capturing
Verde LLC. | www.verdellc.com

50 nacleanenergy.com
MAY/JUNE 2015