Coal production down 38% since 2011 – Wyoming’s Advanced Carbon Products Innovation Center aims to change that

While the shale gas revolution has benefited many, the influx of low-cost natural gas has done just the opposite to the coal industry.

Coal producers are currently being pushed out of the market by a number of forces. The large part of this energy transition, however, is the result of simple economics. Natural gas is becoming more and more cost-competitive, forcing coal out of the fuel mix.

According to the EIA, 2016 was the first year in which natural gas electricity generation exceeded that of coal on an annual basis. Last year 34% of the nation’s electricity came from natural gas power plants, the largest percentage on record. When you combine cheap natural gas prices, the fact that natural gas emits half the carbon dioxide of coal, and government-imposed environmental actions against coal, the result is that demand for coal went south and coal production has subsequently fallen by nearly 40% from its peak in 2011.

State of Wyoming Invests in Coal’s Alternative Future

The five largest coal producing states are listed below. Wyoming is by far the largest U.S. coal producer and by extension it feels the pain when the coal industry is down and out.

Rank State Production (million tons) Share of Total U.S. Coal Production
1 Wyoming 375.8 42%
2 West Virginia 95.6 11%
3 Kentucky 61.4 7%
4 Illinois 65.1 6%
5 Pennsylvania 50 6%

Graphene, carbon nanotubes potential uses

This decline has led coal producers to seek other uses for their product, something the coal-dependent state of Wyoming is supporting with cash in the form of grants.

Wyoming’s State Loan and Investment Board recently approved a $1.5 million grant to Campbell County, the heart of Wyoming coal country. The grant will fund the construction of the Advanced Carbon Products Innovation Center. The ACPIC will be a location for companies to research new uses for coal, allowing producers to continue operating despite the transition away from coal power.

The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board lists graphene, carbon nanotubes, agricultural char, coal to gas and coal to liquids as potential coal products. Some of these technologies, like graphene and carbon nanotubes, are relatively new, while coal to gas and coal to liquids have been around for more than 100 years.

The SLIB reports that five companies have already expressed interest in locating operations at the center, but declined to name specific companies. If the project is funded, ACPIC is scheduled for completion in August 2019.

State of Wyoming Invests in Coal’s Alternative Future

Source: Wyoming Business Council

Coal: old technology or new?

Those older alternative technologies for coal, like coal-to-gas and coal-to-liquids are still fuels-focused. The high thinking futurists believe the motherlode for coal tech is graphene.

Science Daily looked at the alternative uses of coal like this: “Coal as a non-burning resource will drive the expansion of new carbon-based industries that will replace wood-based, metal-based and plastic-based products such as furniture, utility poles, home-construction materials, beams, ropes, industrial belts, car bodies and a host of other products.”

Science Daily reported yesterday that University of Illinois at Chicago scientists have discovered a new chemical method that enables graphene to be incorporated into an even wider range of applications, while maintaining its ultra-fast electronics, than had been previously disclosed.

“It is so thin that it is considered two-dimensional and thought to be the strongest material on the planet,” the article said.

“Graphene, a lightweight, thin, flexible material, can be used to enhance the strength and speed of computer display screens, electric/photonics circuits, solar cells and various medical, chemical and industrial processes, among other things. It is comprised of a single layer of carbon atoms bonded together in a repeating pattern of hexagons.”

R&D company Graphenea defines graphene like this:  “In simple terms, graphene, is a thin layer of pure carbon; it is a single, tightly packed layer of carbon atoms that are bonded together in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. In more complex terms, it is an allotrope of carbon in the structure of a plane of sp2 bonded atoms with a molecule bond length of 0.142 nanometres. Layers of graphene stacked on top of each other form graphite, with an interplanar spacing of 0.335 nanometres.

“It is the thinnest compound known to man at one atom thick, the lightest material known (with 1 square meter coming in at around 0.77 milligrams), the strongest compound discovered (between 100-300 times stronger than steel and with a tensile stiffness of 150,000,000 psi), the best conductor of heat at room temperature (at (4.84±0.44) × 10^3 to (5.30±0.48) × 10^3 W·m−1·K−1) and also the best conductor of electricity known (studies have shown electron mobility at values of more than 15,000 cm2·V−1·s−1). Other notable properties of graphene are its unique levels of light absorption at πα ≈ 2.3% of white light, and its potential suitability for use in spin transport.”

“Since the discovery (or more accurately, the mechanical obtainment) of graphene, advancements within different scientific disciplines have exploded, with huge gains being made particularly in electronics and biotechnology already.”

Baby Boomers might remember the famous one-word line of dialog from the Mike Nichols film The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman …. “plastics.”  If that movie had been written in 2017 the word would be “graphene.” And with its ample supply of coal, will Campbell County, Wyoming become the graphene capital of the world?


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