Power Engineering - Eastman CEO says coal gasification for electricity ready today

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2003 -- Coal gasification as a means to produce electricity is not only a possibility for tomorrow, but also a viable option for today.

That's the message Eastman Chemical Co. Chairman and CEO, J. Brian Ferguson, delivered today to a Congressional subcommittee gathering information on future energy options regarding coal. Testifying before the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, Ferguson said that the reliability, competitiveness and environmental benefits of coal gasification should help preserve a leading role for coal in the nation's energy mix.

"Based on 20-plus years of operating experience, we believe coal gasification can be competitive right now," Ferguson testified. "As additional commercial-sized coal gasification plants are built, the competitiveness of this environmentally superior technology should become more evident, especially if the best practices Eastman has developed over the years are incorporated into future designs and operations."

Ferguson explained that many of today's coal-to-electricity plants burn coal to produce power. That combustion process produces certain air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and particulate matter. Coal gasification, however, turns coal into a gas that can be used like natural gas in power plants, producing many environmental benefits over other clean coal technologies, he said.

"The principal environmental benefits associated with coal gasification are significantly lower air pollution emissions in the short term," Ferguson said, "and more cost-efficient carbon dioxide capture and sequestration in the long term."

Since coal gasification is a chemical process, it's possible to remove the sources of many air pollutants before combustion when it's much easier and less expensive, Ferguson said.

"All that you need to take away from this hearing concerning the environmental benefits of coal gasification is a simple fact: it is the cleanest of the clean coal technologies," Ferguson testified.

Ferguson encouraged House members to continue their support of the Clean Coal Power Initiative, a program that would help develop and demonstrate further advances to the coal gasification process. That support is crucial for the electric utility sector to fully commercialize coal gasification technology.

With headquarters in Kingsport, Tenn., Eastman manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics. The company has approximately 15,800 employees in more than 30 countries and had 2002 sales of $5.3 billion.

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