Electric utility fossil fuels beyond 1985

Numerous research and development studies sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) identified candidate coal-liquefaction processes for commercialization beginning in the mid-1980's, i.e., the H-Coal and Exxon processes to produce liquid turbine fuels and distillate and heavy boiler fuels (DBF and HBF), the donor and solvent processes for DBF and HBF, and the Solvent-Refiner-Coal (SRC)-II process for DBF. The estimated cost of these raw coal liquids is $3.25-$4.50/million Btu, EPRI, and the U.S. Department of Energy have been developing an SRC process to produce a clean substitute coal-derived solid fuel which could serve as a retrofit fuel for existing coal-fired plants. Kerr-McGee's critical solvent deashing and mild hydrotreating are best suited for the desulfurization of this fuel to < 0.9% sulfur. Coal gasification integrated with combined-cycle or gas-turbine powerplants can reduce baseload power cost and improve the thermal efficiency of the plants, but its commercialization is not likely until the 1990's. Due to the reduced NO/sub x/ emissions, methanol may have promise as a fuel for peaking turbine service despite its high cost (currently about $6/million Btu). This cost could be reduced by 10% by using the new liquid-phase methanol reactor developed by EPRI. Coal pyrolysis to liquid fuelmore » shows little incentive due to the low quality of the raw product.« less