CONSOL, Green Holdings Develop Largest U.S. Coal Mine Ventilation Air Methane Abatement Project in Pennsylvania

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The bids are in, and CONSOL Energy Incorporated (NYSE:CNX) (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania) is evaluating a shortlist of vendors for a supply contract for the largest underground coal mine ventilation air methane (VAM) emission abatement project in the United States.

CONSOL and Green Holdings Enlow Incorporated (New York, New York), a greenhouse gas abatement company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Green Holdings Corporation, have entered into a joint venture to develop a VAM emission abatement project at CONSOL's 10 million-tons-per-year Enlow Fork coal mine, which is near West Finley, Pennsylvania, in both Washington and Green counties.

While waiting for final permit approval, CONSOL hopes to have the supplier contract awarded and to begin installing the equipment within a couple months, so that the commercial-sized VAM unit and all associated parts can be running by the end of the year.

Green Holdings will finance the project, operate the unit, and be responsible for selling the emissions reduction credits. CONSOL will hire the contractor (supplier) to provide most of the equipment, including the ventilation air fan, site and technical support.

The project, estimated to cost less than $10 million, includes modifications to the mine's existing ventilation system as well as installing VAM abatement equipment that will capture and destroy methane gas released during the mining process that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere through the mine's ventilation system.

Some equipment to be installed includes a VAM unit, although specifications differ depending on vendor chosen; a methane analyzer; a thermal flow reversal reactor to be interfaced with the coal mine ventilation fan; and a two-bed modular system that processes 60,000 cubic feet per minute or greater.

The mine's current ventilation fan is rated at 210,000 cubic feet per minute. The VAM emission abatement project will reduce the mine's VAM emissions by about 190,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year by destroying up to 95% of the mine's VAM. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

Worldwide, VAM emissions from coal mines result in 300 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Greenhouse gases are gases that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process, known as the greenhouse effect, is said to be one of the main causes of global warming. The most common greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

If the project proves to be successful, officials at both CONSOL and Green Holdings have shown interest in installing this technology at other mines in the United States or anywhere else in the world. At this time, though, neither company has committed to any definitive plans beyond Enlow Fork Mine.

"If the United States intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it will have to be addressed on a broad front dealing with many different sources of [greenhouse gases]," said Steven Winberg, CONSOL's vice president of Research and Development. "We already have a large coal bed methane production business that removes methane from coal seams before mining, producing a valuable fuel. With this agreement, we will deal with methane that is released from a coal seam during the mining process."

Winberg continued to say that this project will allow CONSOL to move from its current small-scale ventilation air methane capture program to a commercial scale effort that, if successful, can be applied at many of the company's existing underground mines.

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