Dakota Gasification Company An International Energy Venture

摘要

The Great Plains Synfuels Plant, located near Beulah, North Dakota, is the only commercial-scale gasification plant operating in the United States that produces Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) from coal. The plant is owned and operated by Dakota Gasification Company (DGC), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative (BEPC), based in Bismarck, North Dakota.The concept for the Synfuels Plant began in the 1970's and grew from a desire to alleviate the United States dependence on foreign oil. Today upwards of 150 million standard cubic feet per day of SNG are produced and exported to consumers throughout the Midwest via the Northern Border Pipeline. Numerous by-products and co-products, including anhydrous ammonia, ammonium sulfate fertilizer, phenol, cresylic acid, krypton/xenon, naphtha and carbon dioxide (CO_2) enhance the viability of the facility.The Great Plains Synfuels Plant has operated 14 Lurgi Mark IV gasifiers for over twenty years. On April 24, 1984 the gasification plant began producing an intermediate raw gas. Subsequently, the first synthetic natural gas entered the nation's interstate pipeline network on July 28,1984. While the facility had its challenges, it is a technical success story. Under current energy markets, it is an economic success as well.The idea for selling CO_2 from the gasification plant arose well before the project was being built in the early 1980's. This became a reality in October of 2000 when Dakota Gasification Company began exporting up to 95 million standard cubic feet per day high pressure CO_2 from the Synfuels Plant. Today the plant has two Canadian customers and exports approximately 150 million standard cubic feet of CO_2 per day. This paper discusses the original project and the expansion. A general overview of the gasification process is included to define the steps required to concentrate the CO_2 into a usable product.