Coal Gasification

Coal gasification is an industrial process that converts coal, together with water, air or oxygen, into syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor, rather than burning the coal directly. Coal was gasified to make town gas for heating and municipal lighting before large scale natural gas extraction became widespread, and modern large installations gasify coal either to generate electricity, including at molten carbonate fuel cell plants, or to produce chemical feedstocks; the hydrogen it yields supports ammonia production, the wider hydrogen economy, and the upgrading of other fossil fuels. Coal derived syngas can be refined further into transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel, or into methanol for use as a fuel or fuel additive, and when hydrogen rather than oxygen or air drives the reaction the process is called hydrogasification; while coal gasification may eventually be phased out on the path to net zero emissions, global coal use, gasification included, continues to increase.