Environmental Care

Using ConocoPhillips proven E-Gas™ technology, Kentucky NewGas will minimize environmental impact, comply with regulatory standards and has been designed to have a small environmental footprint.

  • The process can cost-effectively remove 90-95 percent of the mercury in coal.
  • Up to 99 percent of the sulfur can be recovered and marketed for use in the fertilizer industry.
  • The gasification process produces no ash and recycles byproducts into useful products including road construction materials.
  • The project will be ‘carbon storage ready’.  We are committed to working together with our elected officials and regulators and other stakeholders to develop a legal and regulatory framework that will enable safe, long term carbon storage.

Working Toward a Carbon Solution

Kentucky is playing a major role in advancing permanent carbon capture and storage, and Kentucky NewGas would serve as a new model for coal development. The development of this project will include evaluation of technologies to lower the project’s carbon footprint. Kentucky NewGas would be ‘carbon storage ready’.  The process captures carbon dioxide that ultimately could be permanently stored or used for enhanced oil recovery.

Regulation
Regulations are in place for using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery and the oil industry has decades of experience in moving carbon dioxide by pipeline and using it for that purpose. Regulations for storing carbon dioxide permanently underground, however, are still under development. ConocoPhillips and Peabody are working with a diverse group of industry, academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations to advance development of a regulatory,  legal and economic framework that  makes carbon storage viable.

Research
ConocoPhillips and Peabody are also supporting research to evaluate storage options for carbon dioxide. The companies helped create the Western Kentucky Carbon Storage Foundation, which is working together in a public/private partnership with the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Geologic Survey to progress the understanding of carbon storage potential in Western Kentucky.