ETHANOL FROM COAL?

Here's an interesting article on Celanese chemical company buying a patent to make ethanol from coal.  This is not a new idea, but a patent that apparently allow this conversion with fewer emissions to the atmosphere.  Chemical companies currently manufacture ethanol.  However, the ethanol from corn industry was apparently given protection by refusing chemical companies from manufacturing ethanol for fuel blending use.  I suspect we may see lawsuits soon to deal with this unfair monoply.  You just know the large ethanol lobby group, Growth Energy will fight any efforts to open ethanol fuel blending by chemical companies.

"Pete"
==========================================




Celanese up on ethanol pact; takes aim at U.S. for new tech
July 19, 2012, 4:24 PM


Shares of Celanese Corp.  rose 5% Thursday after the materials company announced a new pact with Indonesia to use its TCX technology to produce ethanol from coal.  Using a closed process that keeps emissions lower than other coal  technologies, the TCX technology produces ethanol  at a price of about $1.50 to $2 a gallon.


Once the ethanol is produced, it burns more cleanly than petroleum products and helps reduce emissions from cars and trucks.
Mark Oberle, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Celanese, said the company’s TCX process could produce ethanol from multiple sources including natural gas, depending on whatever’s most economical in a given market.
“It’s a breakthrough technology that allows us to produce ethanol cost-effectively using a variety of feedstocks,” he said.


Currently, the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard restricts coal as a raw material, or feedstock, to make ethanol, but Celanese would like that to change, Oberle said.  For now, the king of American renewable fuels remains corn-based ethanol, which is blended in gasoline at a rate of up to 15%.
For the time being at least, Celanese has plenty on its plate with its new ethanol deal in Indonesia. U.S. regulators may not go along with classifying coal as a renewable fuel, but if the TCX process proves its worth overseas, policy makers could warm up to it.