wAbstract
@We investigate the economics of coal-to-liquid (CTL) conversion,
a polygeneration technology that produces liquid fuels, chemicals,
and electricity by coal gasification and Fischer-Tropsch process.
CTL is more expensive than extant technologies when producing
the same bundle of output. In addition, the significant carbon
footprint of CTL may raise environmental concerns. However, as
petroleum prices rise, this technology becomes more attractive
especially in coal-abundant countries such as the U.S. and China.
Furthermore, including a carbon capture and storage (CCS) option
could greatly reduce its CO2 emissions at
an added cost. To assess the prospects for CTL, we incorporate
the engineering data for CTL from the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) into the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA)
model, a computable general equilibrium model of the global economy.
Based on DOE's plant design that focuses mainly on liquid fuels
production, we find the without climate policy. CTL has the potential
to account for up to a third of the global liquid fuels supply
by 2050 and at that level would supply about 4.6 of global electricity
demand. A tight global climate policy, on the other hand, severely
limits the potential role of the CTL even with the CCS option,
especially if low-carbon biofuels are available. Under such a
policy, world demand for petroleum products is greatly reduced,
depletion of conventional petroleum is slowed, and so the price
increase in crude oil is less, making CTL much less competitive.
Keywords: Energy supply; Climate policy; General equilibriumx
1. Introduction
2. The EPPA model
3. Data on CTL conversion and costs
@3.1. Cost, output, and mark-up index
@3.2. Extending the representation of CTL technology to all EPPA
regions
4. Scenarios
5. Results
@5.1. The roles of CTL in global energy supply
@5.2. Sensitivity analyses
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Appendix A
@A1. CTL outputs, crude oil prices, and change in GDP
@A2. Regional CO2 emissions under different
climate policy proposals
References