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Current status of coal gasification 191

which will be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) (Lewis et al., 2015; Texas Clean
Energy Project, n.d.).
TCEP started in 2010 after having been selected by the US Department of Energy
(DOE) for cost-shared cofunded financial assistance under Round 3 of its Clean Coal
Power Initiative. However, on August 2016, DOE notified Summit Texas Clean
Energy, LLC of its final determination to discontinue the cooperative agreement for
failure to achieve the technical objectives of phase 1 of the project (Office of Fossil
Energy, n.d.). Nevertheless, Summit Power Group decided to continue with the proj-
ect, although in December 2016, it announced its intention to minimize or remove the
power generation part of the project and focused on the fertilizer production, but a new
partner is required to make economically feasible the project. In the best of scenarios,
the construction of the plant is expected to be completed in mid-2018 with ramp-up to
full commercial operations to begin soon afterward, but until a new investor is found,
the official status of the plant is shelved (NETL, n.d.-e; SourceWatch, 2017; Texas
Clean Energy Project, n.d.).

7.2.3 Europe

Although there has been a significant reduction concerning the use of coal in the last
years, what has led to the closure of two of the most well-known commercial-scale
IGCC plants, ELCOGAS IGCC plant (Puertollano, Spain) and Willem-Alexander
IGCC Plant (Buggenum, Netherlands), coal gasification is still a relevant topic to be
researched in Europe in several aspects (IGCC plants using different technologies, un-
derground coal gasification, carbon capture and storage, and CTL processes), as shown
by the high number of projects financed by different European programs (for example,
Research Fund for Coal and Steel) and European governments and the IGCC plants
still operating.
In the following section, the updated status of the research carried out on this field in
Europe will be reviewed. Nevertheless, due to its relevance, information related to
IGCC plants recently closed will be included.

7.2.3.1 Spain
7.2.3.1.1 ELCOGAS Puertollano IGCC Plant
The Puertollano IGCC Plant went into operation in December of 1997 and was closed
due to economic reasons in January 2016. The plant equipped with a Krupp Koppers
®
PRENFLO (pressurized entrained flow) gasificationislandand a Siemens
combined-cycle power island was a 300 MW net demonstration project. It was
designed to use mixtures of subbituminous coal with high ash content (around
40% w/w) and petroleum coke (50/50), but the ELCOGAS IGCC plant demonstrated
the possibility of converting low-quality coal, with high ash content, along with
refinery by-products of over 5% to electricity with minimal environmental impacts
(NETL, n.d.-b).