$7.5 billion Kemper power plant suspends coal gasification. Owners of the plant made the decision to burn natural gas exclusively for now.
"The Kemper County plant was supposed to be a cutting-edge demonstration of the power of "clean coal" and, despite running five years late and more than $4 billion over budget, Kemper was able to start testing its coal gasification operations late last year. The plant used a chemical process to break down lignite coal into synthesis gas, or "syngas" which was then fed into a generator. The syngas burns cleaner than pulverized lignite coal does. In addition, emissions were caught by a carbon capture system and delivered to a nearby oil field to help with oil extraction. That, Southern and Mississippi Power said, would reduce the greenhouse emissions of burning lignite by up to 65 percent.
But with only 200 days of gasification operations under its belt, Kemper identified more issues with its technology, including design flaws that caused leaks and ash buildup. Last week, the MPSC indicated that it would refuse to allow Southern to raise rates to cover Kemper's continued construction and maintenance for gasification."
I thought the destructive distallation of coal was a late 19th / eearly 20th century thing. I can remember when we converted from "town gas" to natural gas in the late 1960s. I still see old gasometers in London, but I think they're inactive now.