North Dakota Coal Story: Nothing To Do With the Bakken

UND's Energy and Environmental Research Center and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne have partnered to study ways to make "coal cleaner."

Data points:

• the joint venture has introduced a prototype gasification system that uses dry coal
• current process requires large quantities of water
• new system burns coal more efficiently, more cleanly according to spokesman
• coal is pulverized and kept under pressure to behave like a fluid
• no additional water is used
• 2015: will start looking for commercial plants worldwide

Back on July 20, 2010, I blogged about New Zealand shipping lignite to North Dakota to test a coal-drying process.