Celanese Says Ethanol-From-Coal Process Is a ‘Game-Changer’ - Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/celanese-says-ethanol-from-coal-process-is-a-game-changer-1-.html

Celanese Corp. (CE) said its technology to make ethanol from coal is more profitable than producing the gasoline additive from plants, and is a “game-changer” for the U.S. chemicals company.

Celanese’s so-called TCX technology can convert coal, petroleum coke or natural gas to ethanol for 25 percent to 35 percent less than alternative processes, it said today in presentation slides posted on its website. The cost of converting coal to ethanol is $1.50 a gallon, equal to making gasoline from crude oil costing $60 a barrel, Dallas-based Celanese said.

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Celanese said in November it will spend as much as $350 million on each of two planned factories in China that will turn coal into ethanol for industrial uses. Each plant will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of ethanol, or 134 million gallons. The company plans to sell ethanol in China, India, Australia, Colombia and Egypt.

Celanese rose $2.07, or 4.2 percent, to $51.98 as of 11:04 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
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Given the supply of natural gas and coal in the U.S. this would mean substituting ethanol for all the gasoline we use is quite do-able.

All they're doing is putting the balls in a different bucket. But hey, it'll be profitable!

I always knew we were in Iraq because Dubya was looking for his balls.

with less emissions than gasoline, at least it would be an improvement there and if this process could supply enough it would limit gasoline adn oil price increases which might save our economy from the coming petroleum cost induced low or no-growth fate.

I couldn't find info on this processes GHG emissions.

Iowa needs $2 billion in coal-fired electricity production to supply power for ethanol; critics say coal use “ungreens” ethanol

Is gasifying coal to power cars more easily done than simply moving to electric transport and converting the coal to grid power as we do today? At least with electric vehicles we have alternatives in place when (if) wind, solar and nuclear ramp up.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3603

This is a technological "breakthrough" we do NOT need!

Keep digging up coal and turn it into low-efficiency fuel for
your constitutionally-protected personal fat-ass-moving-device ...

:thumbsdown:

:eyes: