Ambre Fuels has long been engaged in research and development activities relating to the upgrading of low value coal and the production of alternative fuels, including:
- Coal and shale pyrolysis, to produce a clean-burning solid char product and synthetic crude oil
- Upgrading of coal liquids to make synthetic crude for further processing into liquid fuels
- Coal gasification to produce liquid fuels such as methanol, unleaded petrol, LPG and next-generation fuels such as DME
- Converting biomass and municipal waste to alternate fuels
- Co-firing biomass and coal
- Lignin-to-fuels conversion technologies
- Coal liquefaction (dissolving coal)
- Drying and briquetting of low-rank coals.
DME research
DME (dimethyl ether) is among the most promising alternative fuels that can be produced from natural gas and coal, and research indicates it can be used directly in off-the-shelf compression-ignition (C-I) engines, such as diesel engines, with only minor modifications reuqired to fuel lines and the injection system.
Working with University of Queensland’s Metallurgical Engineering Department, Ambre Energy successfully applied for an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to support research into using DME in a C-I engine.
The grant will fund building and running an engine testing system to investigate emissions from a DME-fuelled diesel engine under varying loads. The system should be online in late 2012.
The testing program will help develop a fuel specification for DME in Australia. Over the long term, Ambre Energy intends to develop, test and prove the use of DME in industrial applications.
Meanwhile, Western Research Institute is helping Ambre to build a pilot plant to test its helical reactor for syngas conversion with funding from the Wyoming Government Clean Coal Technology Fund. The plant will trial Ambre’s single-stage catalyst for converting syngas to DME.
DME facts
A diesel substitute, DME is unlike diesel, gasoline or ethanol in that it produces no smoke or soot on combustion. It also contains no sulphur and produces very low NOx emission.
Similar to LPG, it is a gas at room temperature and a liquid at low pressure), and is much easier to transport and store than liquefied natural gas or pure hydrogen.
DME is typically prepared by converting syngas to methanol, then converting that methanol to DME. Ambre Energy is developing catalyst technology to convert syngas directly to DME in a single process – reducing capital and operating costs.
A single-stage process would improve single-pass conversion efficiencies and significantly reduce the total equipment account. The technique being developed by Ambre Energy, in conjunction with the Jantra SF, contains both conversions in the one catalyst.
Coal gasification
Ambre Energy has undertaken a range of studies to understand the gasification potential of the Lower Walloon coal found at the Felton North Coal Deposit, 30km south-west of Toowoomba. Studies include reactivity and ash-behaviour characterisation performed at the CSIRO.
Specialist-supervised coal reactivity and pilot scale gasification tests have been conducted in Germany to assess the gasification suitability of the coal found at the Ambre Fuels site. Coal found at the Ambre Fuels site with both fluidised bed and entrained flow gasification technologies.
In 2009–10, similar studies were performed on western sub-bituminous coals from the US.
Ambre Energy has also undertaken gasification reactivity studies with the Synthesis Energy Systems (SES) U-Gas technology, culminating in late 2010 in China with a commercial demonstration of the technology on Lower Walloon coal.
Lignite and lignin technology
In 2011, Ambre Energy, together with Jantra Fuels and Chemicals LLC and Western Research Institute, commenced the investigation of a liquefaction technology for the generation of liquid fuels.
This "hydrothermal" liquefication technology uses sub- and supercritical water to break down carbonaceous macromolecules (e.g. lignin or coal) into smaller molecules that can be used as fuel molecules or chemicals.
This project is supported by the Wyoming Government Clean Coal Technology Fund.
Biomass uses
Ambre Energy has an interest in using biomass – such as municipal green waste, construction waste, agricultural waste and forestry residues – as a co-feed to a gasifier along with coal, in order to produce syngas for the production of fuels.
Crucial factors when using biomass as an energy feedstock are the availability of feed to the gasification plant and the cost associated with transporting and processing the feed material.
