Firepoint Energy’s Pennsylvania Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Project to Convert Coal into Aviation Fuel, Extract Minerals, Including REEs, from Coal Waste, and Add Carbon Capture

      An interesting hybrid remining, environmental remediation, energy production, energy conversion, and critical minerals recovery project is taking shape in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.  The project also includes plans for carbon capture. Wyoming-based C-Corporation Firepoint Energy is developing the project. Firepoint utilized Conti Labs earlier this year to analyze mineral concentrations in Pennsylvania coal waste piles. The results indicated economic amounts of lithium, aluminum, and manganese. The tailings also contained abundant rare earth elements (REEs), including neodymium, dysprosium, europium, lithium, praseodymium, and terbium. Bill Smith, Firepoint president and CEO quipped:

“All of the processes and equipment we are using can be tailored to each waste site, maximizing the harvesting of REEs, producing clean synthetic fuels, clean electrical power for the grid and data mining companies, and eliminating the acid mine drainage caused by waste coal,”

The company values the minerals in the waste at $130 billion. However, it will take billions in investment to get multiple projects going. They have bold plans. Smith was the CEO of XcelPlus International, now run by Firepoint.

 

 

GTL Through Plasma Gasification

     Firepoint plans to utilize plasma gasification to make synthesis gas for synthetic fuels like sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Specifically, they plan to use XcelPlus’s ‘adaptiveARC gasifier’. The smallest adaptiveARC gasifier can process up to 25 tons of waste into a syngas which could be converted into enough hydrogen and diesel fuel to power more than 300 homes or small businesses daily. In 2021 XcelPlus began producing adaptiveARC gasifiers capable of processing 50 tons of waste per day.

     Gasification is also being developed as a solution for landfill overflow garbage, capturing it to make synfuels. These 50-ton/day gasifiers can still be transported. They can receive several forms of waste: waste coal, garbage, agricultural waste, sludge, sewage, and even plastic waste. Firepoint plans to utilize generator sets to power their operations with their syngas-derived fuels, produce hydrogen, power the grid, and possibly power data mining ops. They also plan to utilize an organic Rankine cycle which increases efficiency. Smith thinks that with government incentives the payout for a 50 ton/day operation will be 2-3 years with system life at about 20 years. He also notes a goal to make hydrogen at landfills near railways and highways to produce hydrogen for trains and cars respectively. On-site syngas from waste can solve multiple problems at once. One question I have is about pollution. Does waste-to-energy accelerate the polluting emissions from waste sources like landfills? Certainly, it does not increase overall polluting emissions, but does it produce them faster than they would be produced say at the landfill? I am not sure at this point.

 

 

 XcelPlus AdaptiveARC Gasifier

 

 

The Jefferson County, PA Project

 

     Jefferson County, PA was chosen due to the waste coal having the highest concentrations of desirable minerals. The site contains eight million tons of waste coal. There is also an adjacent 15-million-ton pile that may be processed later. Smith pointed out:

“On top of the more than $3 billion worth of rare earth minerals and other metals at this location, we expect to produce 15.4 million gallons of clean jet fuel per year from the very same waste coal. We fully expect to produce revenues of at least $101 million in metals and minerals each year by extracting them using industrial hydrometallurgical processes.”

The waste will be stripped of minerals through the extraction process, including the removal of the mineral pyrite that forms the basis for acid mine drainage (AMD). Thus, this is also a significant environmental remediation project. I wrote about REE extraction from coal waste and AMD earlier this year. Firepoint is also considering processing coal ash at local power plants to extract the rare earth minerals which can reduce the amount of ash being hauled to landfills and other sites. The company projects that $750 million could be invested into the region and create at least 100 well-paying jobs. The process and steps of the process are shown below.

 

References:

Firepoint Energy Selects Jefferson County Site For Waste Coal-To-Fuel Conversion, Rare Earth Element Recovery Production Site. PA Environment Digest Blog. July 5, 2024. PA Environment Digest Blog: Firepoint Energy Selects Jefferson County Site For Waste Coal-To-Fuel Conversion, Rare Earth Element Recovery Production Site (paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com)

How Do You Concentrate the Rare Earth Elements? Firepoint Energy. 2024. Processes - Firepoint Energy

Tests prove Pennsylvania waste coal contains more than $130 Billion in Rare Earth Elements. Presswire. April 1, 2024. Tests prove Pennsylvania waste coal contains more than $130 Billion in Rare Earth Elements (einpresswire.com)

Abundance of lithium, aluminum, and manganese discovered in Pennsylvania Waste Coal along with REEs. Presswire. May 13, 2024. Abundance of lithium, aluminum, and manganese discovered in Pennsylvania Waste Coal along with REEs (einpresswire.com)

Coal Region State Rep Brian Smith Supports Firepoint Energy’s Solution to Pennsylvania’s Waste Coal Problem. Presswire. May 22, 2024. Coal Region State Rep Brian Smith Supports Firepoint Energy’s Solution to Pennsylvania’s Waste Coal Problem (einpresswire.com)

XcelPlus Acquires Waste-to-Energy Plasma Gasification Company. Newsfile. December 4, 2020. XcelPlus Acquires Waste-to-Energy Plasma Gasification Company (newsfilecorp.com)

RENEWables #31: Syngas Offers a Solution to Landfill Overflow. RENEWables. A Sustainability Podcast with David Smart. Entrepreneurship. RENEWables A Sustainability Podcast with David Smart: RENEWables #31: Syngas Offers a Solution to Landfill Overflow on Apple Podcasts

XcelPlus International upgrades its plasma gasifiers into 50-ton-per-day, portable units. XcelPlus International. Global Newswire. July 29, 2021. XcelPlus International upgrades its plasma gasifiers into (globenewswire.com)