Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) signed an agreement with GreatPoint to pursue development of coal-to-gas and coal-to-hydrogen projects in the U.S. and around the world with carbon capture and storage (CCS) that would achieve near-zero carbon emissions while liberating vast quantities of stranded oil.
The projects would be developed using GreatPoint’s proprietary Bluegas technology, an alternative to conventional gasification. This technology utilizes catalytic hydromethanation to create pure hydrogen and substitute natural gas.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, catalytic hydromethanation combined with advanced power generation eliminates more than 90% of carbon emissions and nearly doubles the efficiency of conventional coal combustion or Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plants.
This technology captures the carbon dioxide (CO2), which can be used for domestic oil production through enhanced oil recovery.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that there are more than 60 billion barrels of stranded U.S. oil, and the International Energy Agency estimates there are more than 200 billion barrels of stranded oil worldwide. These resources could be recovered with injection of captured CO2.
The hydrogen produced at the plants will be used for industrial applications or combusted to generate near-zero carbon electricity. The substitute natural gas produced at the plants can be transported in the existing pipeline infrastructure and used as fuel in home heating, power plants or industrial processes.
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