Money would fund development of transportation fuel from Illinois coal

The SIU Coal Research Center is one of three research facilities that could receive millions of dollars in energy research appropriations.

The Energy Power Act of 2005, which grants $85 million for coal research facilities in the Midwest, has passed the U.S. Senate and now awaits the approval of the U.S. House of Representatives.

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The bill passed the Senate June 28 and has provisions for the creation of a program that would look into the viability of making transportation fuels from Illinois basin coal.

“It has been proposed that such work related to that be done at universities such as Southern Illinois University,” said John Mead, Director of the Coal Research Center. “It is work that we have done over the years.”

The bill is concerned with energy opportunities ranging from coal to nuclear power. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., introduced the amendment allocating money to the Coal Research Center at SIU.

“This particular provision is on the process that would produce gasification,” Mead said.

The gasification process has advantages over the typical burning of coal for energy because it allows researchers to control the amount of air pollutions, Mead said.

Coal is subjected to heat and pressure in a specialized facility during gasification.

“Because these products are synthesized, they can be designed to do better than products designed by typical jet fuels,” Mead said.

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The University’s coal gasification research focuses on the production of hydrogen from the coal, said Thomas Wiltowski, associate director of the Coal Research Center and associate professor of mechanical engineering and energy processes.

“This is not something like a dream or a wish list, this is real,” Wiltowski said. “It can be achieved.”

The fuel they are creating is called Fischer-Tropsch transportation fuel and includes diesel fuel as well as gasoline.

“This is important now for the price we’re paying,” Wiltowski said. “The focus is to make the processes cheaper.”

Under this section of the bill, the Coal Research Center, the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research and the Energy Center at Purdue University would share the money, which would be distributed from 2006 through 2010.

The money will be used for increasing research at the existing facilities as well as creating new facilities for research, Obama’s Deputy Press Secretary Tommy Vietor said.

“The earliest the money will be available is spring 2007,” Vietor said.

Coal has played a large role in Illinois’ economy, and even gave Carbondale its name. In 1980, the Illinois mining industry had 18,284 employees, who earned more than $400 million.

Recently, the state has seen a drastic drop in the industry, which in 2003 employed 3,534 people. In 2003, Illinois produced about half the amount coal it did in 1980.