Sinclair Oil Corp, Salt Lake City UT, has entered into a long-term contract to market 100 percent of the ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel produced by Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC from its planned coal-to-liquids (CTL) facility in Medicine Bow WY.
Construction of the facility is scheduled to start in late 2007, with an expected in-service date in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to information from Medicine Bow LLC. Sinclair will market the fuel in the Rocky Mountain region.
The project, which includes a coal mine and adjacent CTL facility, will use an indirect liquefaction process to convert coal resources into refined products. The facility will utilize coal gasification technology from General Electric Co to produce synthetic gas, which will be cleaned through other technology so that substantially all of the sulfur and carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed. The syngas will then be liquefied using Fischer-Tropsch technology licensed from Rentech Inc. A further refining process will produce the ultra-low-sulfur diesel product.