(79e) Hydromax: Not Your "Same Old" Coal Gasifier

Overview - The United States is heavily dependent on foreign sources to meet ever increasing energy demands. This growing need, coupled with unstable geopolitical events and very real global supply-demand issues, points to an alarming future. The U.S. needs energy sources that are available domestically and meet stringent cleanliness standards. While renewable sources like solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, and biomass offer great promise, most are either too expensive, lack enough production capacity, or have long lead times. Clean coal, with over 275 years of proven reserves in the U.S. and at 10-20% of the gasoline energy-equivalent cost, is the only viable near-term solution. Translating this coal into energy in a ?clean? and efficient manner is best accomplished through a well-known process called ?gasification.? In a high temperature and pressure chamber coal is deprived of oxygen and turned into syngas (a gaseous combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide). This syngas can then be used for a variety of purposes - burned for electricity, converted to pure hydrogen, or synthesized to make a multitude of chemicals and transportation fuels (diesel, jet fuel, etc).

Advantage - HydroMax is an advanced gasification system that offers significant benefits compared to conventional techniques. For applications requiring hydrogen, a traditional gasifier must first produce syngas, then use portions of this syngas to produce hydrogen. For fuels synthesis, the syngas and hydrogen must then be combined in the correct ratio dependent upon the particular fuel desired (depicted in red in attached image). On the other hand, the HydroMax technique (green) produces both syngas and hydrogen separately and in parallel direct from the reactor. The key to this advantage is a patented molten metal iron/tin oxidation and reduction process. The resulting 3-to-1 reduction in processes could provide substantive benefits in capital and operating costs, gasifier efficiency, and output emissions.

Key Potential Benefits: - Up to 50% capital cost reduction - Lower operations/maintenance costs - 80+% gasification efficiency - Higher reliability and availability - Smaller "footprint" - Maximum flexibility in outputs - Ultra clean fuels produced - Limited emissions - Resilient to diverse feedstocks - Easily scalable to industrial and utility applications

Path Forward - The underlying science behind HydroMax has already been demonstrated through multiple experiments and leverages existing commercial practices from the mining and metals industries. Having proven the science, the next step is to build and operate an integrated, end-to-end pilot demonstration plant. This would allow for optimization and validation of the operations, efficiencies, and economics of HydroMax. Diversified Energy Corporation, with its partner in Alchemix Corporation, are leading this effort and working collaboratively with the DOE, DOD, state governments, and other industrial partners to bring this technique to commercialization as quickly as possible.