The Dow syngas project and the Clean Air Act

The passage of the amended Clean Air Act in the closing days of 1990 may provide the added incentive needed for full commercial development of coal gasification combined-cycle (CGCC) power plants. Today, utilities are developing their compliance strategies. Rather than just switching fuels or applying wet scrubbers with their attendant waste disposal challenges, utilities will increasingly consider CGCC because of the attraction of this system in competitive capital cost, high cycle efficiency and low environmental impact. Additionally, CGCC technology is becoming well established, with the world's largest coal gasification power plant completing its fourth year of operation. Through January the plant had processed over 1.3 million tons of subbituminous coal. This facility is capable of producing 160 MW in a high efficiency, combined-cycle configuration. Adapting this technology to the capacity and operating requirements of utility systems developing their clean Air Act compliance plans is the subject of this paper.