ventilation air from coal mines. Replacing coal by coal briquettes in cooking and heating stoves. The work, to be coordinated by UNEP, is expected to be ready in advance of the next Climate Convention meeting scheduled later in the year in Durban, South Africa. MORE

Sasol Ltd has expressed its willingness to acquire a minority stake in a coal-to-liquids joint venture with Coal India Ltd (CIL) and NMDC Ltd, a little more than one year after it formed a 50:50 venture with Tata Steel Ltd for a similar project. Sasol is pursuing global opportunities to commercialize its coal-to-liquids technology through its arm, Sasol Synfuels International (Pty) Ltd. Livemint. MORE

Exxaro Resources Limited, a South African-based mining group, has entered into a prospecting joint venture agreement with Sasol Mining Proprietary Limited (Sasol Mining) for the development of a new coal mine to supply Sasol’s potential new inland coal-to-liquids (CTL) project. Should the project proceed, it will require a new coal mine to produce feedstock for the 80,000 barrels-a-day CTL complex. MORE

TCX is the company’s new proprietary technology for ethanol production that builds on its acetyl platform and integrates new technologies to produce ethanol using basic hydrocarbon feedstocks—natural gas, coal and pet coke now, with biomass and waste planned for the future. MORE

Project developers in both China and Canada are moving forward with new coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuel facilities, according to the Coal-to-Liquids Coalition (CTLC). The plant will be jointly developed with South Africa-based Sasol, the world’s largest CTL company. The project is ultimately expected to convert approximately 3 million tons of coal annually to produce an output of 80,000 barrels of oil products daily. MORE

These gases come from human activities such as combustion of coal and oil as well as natural sources such as emissions from plants. In addition to NCAR, the study co-authors are from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; University of Colorado, Boulder; and North-West University in South Africa. MORE

The story about China’s coal-reliant electricity production resulting in electric vehicles (EVs) becoming more polluting than combustion cars (see story) may have been twisted by some unscrupulous media to imply that all EVs, wherever they are used, are a far-worse for the environment than oil-drinkers (see the usual suspects for more info). Electric cars electric vehicles emissions South Africa MORE

This geographically diverse group comprises Brazil and Mexico in the Americas; South Africa and Nigeria in Africa; Egypt and Turkey in North Africa/Mediterranean; Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East; as well as Thailand and Indonesia in Asia. MORE

The new Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Technology (AnMBR) will be further developed at a new demonstration plant at Sasol’s R&D Campus at its Sasol One Site in Sasolburg, South Africa. Sasol currently uses aerobic microbes to treat GTL and coal-to-liquids (CTL) effluents in ORYX GTL, Qatar and Synfuels, Secunda facilities. Biomass-to-Liquids (BTL) Biotech Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) Gas-to-Liquids (GTL MORE

Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa and Rutgers University are proposing new Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) reaction chemistry and process designs that they say could increase F-T process efficiency and reduce CO 2 emissions by 15% compared to the conventional process. Hildebrandt and her colleagues viewed the coal-to-liquids process as a heat engine: The first step is a high-temperature endothermic reaction that converts the solid coal into gases. MORE

South Africa state-owned power utility Eskom reports that a design study is currently under way for an underground coal gasification (UCG) demonstration plant, which will include a 250,000 Nm 3 /h gas production plant and a 100 MW to 140 MW gas turbine plant. The coal seam lies between 280 m and 300 m deep. Eskom’s studies show that the gas could be cofired with coal to power the 4,100 MW Majuba power station , providing direct use for the gas. Mining Weekly. MORE

Projected Costs of Generating Electricity: 2015 Edition looks at generation costs at more than 180 plants—from large nuclear and fossil-fuel facilities to wind farms to residential-sized solar PV installations—in 22 countries, including Brazil, China and South Africa. MORE

South Africa-based Sasol recently provided the synthetic jet fuel for the first passenger aircraft flight fully fueled by a synthetic fuel; demonstrations of aviation synfuels have so far been using 50% blends with petroleum-based jet fuel. The fuel, produced by Sasol’s proprietary Coal to Liquids (CTL) process, is the only fully synthetic jet fuel to have received international approval as a commercial aviation turbine fuel, Sasol said. MORE

Examining the role of shale gas, PwC’s report suggests that at current rates of consumption, replacing 10% of global oil and coal consumption with gas could deliver emissions savings of around 3% a year (1gt CO 2 e per annum). MORE

In a cost-shared program supported by the US Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO) of the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA), a team at Battelle is demonstrating a new, hybrid, direct coal-to-liquids process for producing jet fuel using biomass-derived coal solvents. The conversion of coal to syncrude is carried out at a relatively low pressure without requiring gaseous hydrogen or a catalyst. MORE

South African energy and chemicals group Sasol today announced that it has chosen the southwestern region of the State of Louisiana as the site for a planned gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility. billion barrels of liquid fuels and chemicals from coal and natural gas. Sasol converts gas and coal into liquid fuels, fuel components and chemicals through proprietary Fischer-Tropsch (FT) processes. MORE

A research collaboration between South Africa-based Sasol and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pretoria (UP) has led to the commissioning of high-tech equipment to gain better insights into the properties and performance of synthetic diesel fuels. Tags: Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) Fuels MORE

The US Department of Energy has issued up to a $5-million Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000103) to solicit laboratory-level R&D projects to develop novel technologies for producing hydrogen from coal. Issues associated with current membrane development—including resistance to contaminants in syngas, temperature limitations, durability, and cost—have led to the need for alternative methods of producing hydrogen from coal-based facilities. MORE

Royal Dutch Shell is postponing a coal-to-liquids (CTL) joint project with Shenhua Group in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in China. “In But the company will keep playing an active role in China’s coal gasification sector, he added. In 2006, Shell signed an agreement with Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Co. to start a feasibility study on an indirect (Fischer-Tropsch-based) coal-to-liquids project. China Daily. MORE

Your Greenius opines that today’s oil, coal and gas companies are the modern equivalent of pre civil war plantation owners raking in massive profits off the backs of black slaves and treating them worse than the slave owners in Jhango Unchained did. MORE

February, 2009 : Record heat waves in late January and early February overloaded urban energy, water, and transport systems in the southernmost states of South Australia and Victoria and intensified hundreds of seasonal and man-made bushfires throughout the countryside, killing 374 people. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and one of the world’s highest per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases. by Jack Rosebro. MORE