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Lignite: energy resource for energy producers in Texas Texas Utilities Services, Inc. has seven generating units burning lignite-thereby reducing their dependence on natural gas-at three plant locations Lignite, which for many years lay almost forgotten in vast deposits beneath east Texas, is rapidly emerging as a prime resource for Texas energy producers. Traditional energy resources have dwindled and as their supply has decreased, their prices have increased. Federal and state authorities are mandating a conversion to other energy sources. In Texas, lignite promises to be one of its major energy alternatives. Lignite makes up only a small portion of this nation’s total coal reserves. Some energy experts have even questioned categorizing lignite as a form of coal in the strict sense of the word. Lignite is a much younger fossil fuel than anthracite and bituminous coal. While the latter two have been in the ground for more than 20 million years,
lignite is 50 million years old. It’s a soft, porous fuel with only about onehalf the heating value of the higher coal forms.
Why the interest? Texas has significant quantities of lignite, but hardly any deposits of higher grade coals. In order to use bituminous or anthracite coals, Texans would have to import them from out of state. But if power plants can be built on top of the lignite deposits, the lignite already in Texas can provide an economical energy alternative to natural gas and oil. Three Texas power companies have already proved it can be done. Dallas Power & Light Company, Texas Electric Service Company, and Texas Power & Light Company are currently
Martin Lake plant. Two 750-MW lignite units are operational now. By 1985, a total of f o u r lignite units will bring the plant’s capacity to 3000-MW 1250
Environmental Science & Technology
operating seven lignite-fired generating units in the state at three plant locations. The three companies, which are all a part of the Texas Utilities Company System, are considered the world’s leaders in lignite development and utilization. Texas Power & Light Company placed the world’s first major lignitefired generating station into service in 1926 at Trinidad, Texas. In 1953 a Texas Utilities Company subsidiary placed an industrial lignite-fired plant in operation a t Rockdale. The electricity produced there was used primarily by a nearby aluminum production facility. And in 197 1, several years before most of the public realized how quickly the energy situation was changing, the same three Texas power companies placed the first modern day commercial lignite station into operation near Fairfield, Texas.
Expansions The three companies have since added lignite generating units near Mt. Pleasant and Henderson, Texas, and plan future units near Athens and Franklin. Meanwhile, other companies are jumping on the lignite bandwagon. The Texas Municipal Power Authority, composed of the cities of Garland, Greenville, Denton, and Bryan, is constructing a lignite-fired plant in Grimes County. The Brazos Electric C o - o p is involved in a lignite-fired plant currently under construction south of San Antonio. A number of industrial concerns are now aggressively competing for lignite reserves in Texas. Among them are Phillips Petroleum, Shell Oil, Olin Corporation, Atlantic Richfield, Armco Steel, Reynolds Metals, Gen-
era1 Portland, Dow Chemical, ASARCO, Champion Paper, Southland Paper Mills, Getty Oil, North American Coal Company, Tennaco, Sun Oil, and Exxon.
The resource Although Texas lacks any significant quantities of high-grade coal that is currently economically recoverable, there is enough lignite beneath the Lone Star State to appreciably diminish Texas’ dependence on highpriced fuels. If one considers lignite a form of coal, then Texas is now the 1 1th largest coal-producing state. David White of the Governor’s Energy Advisory Council estimates that at current growth rates, Texas will be ranked number eight by 1985. Estimates of the state’s lignite reserves vary widely. Perhaps the most optimistic estimate is from the Texas Bureau of Geology. A recent mapping by the bureau indicates up to 10 billion tons of lignite to a depth of 200 feet below the surface and as much as 100 billion tons at much deeper levels. It must be noted, however, that a substantial amount of these reserves are widely dispersed in shallow seams, making the economics of recovering them highly questionable. Even more questionable are the prospects of developing lignite deposits a t extreme depths. Nonetheless, substantial prime lignite deposits are assured to the three electric utilities of the Texas Utilities Company System. The system holds some 750 million tons of proven recoverable lignite-enough to supply each of the plants it constructs for about 40 years. Other utilities in the state are developing lignite, western coal, or nuclear generation in order to meet probable federal and statemandated timetables for conversion away from natural gas as a boiler fuel. Cheaper fuel The Texas Railroad Commission has ordered electric utilities to reduce natural gas consumption by 10% of 1974 or 1975 levels-whichever was highest-by 1981, and 25% by 1985. The national energy bill, still pending in Congress, would order utilities to stop using natural gas as a boiler fuel by 1990. The high capital costs of building coal- and lignite-generating stations are more than offset by savings in fuel costs. In 1977, the three Texas Utilities Company power firms generated power on lignite for less than 40 cents per million Btu. This compares very favorably with the price of new natural
gas which was more than two dollars per million Btu. Utilizing coal or lignite requires utilities to deal with the many environmental considerations that go along with this cheaper fuel. Long before state or federal strip-mining regulations were imposed, the three utilities currently conducting lignite operations in the state were restoring the land to productivity. Continuing research projects by the companies determine the environmental effects of surface mining in Texas. Additional environmental aspects of using coal have added to its cost. Some environmental regulations are viewed as too harsh, expensive and unjustified by utility companies who believe many regulations add tremendously to the cost of generating electricity with coal, while providing little or no improvement to the environment.
Emission controls Utilities tend to agree that some stack emission controls are needed, but some draw the line a t flue gas desulfurization devices, commonly known as scrubbers. Utilities in Texas and elsewhere have complained that the devices, which can cost as much as an entire power plant did a decade ago, do nothing to significantly improve the air and may even create a potential environmental problem themselves by creating tons of scrubber sludge daily which must be buried. Texas Attorney General John Hill opposed several regulations proposed under the Federal Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977 and filed suit against the Secretary of the Interior. Hill took specific issue with two proposals-one which would have, in effect, rendered some 800 000 acres of land covering prime Texas lignite deposits impossible to mine. The other proposal involved the removal and replacement of strata during the mining process. Hill argued that prior surface mining experience in Texas had shown that such strata handling served no purpose. The Texas Railroad Commission estimated such stringent requirements would increase mining costs 50%. Hill dropped the suit after federal officials assured the Texas attorney general that the final regulations adopted affecting these two matters would not be as stringent as originally interpreted. Despite the added capital expense and regulatory problems associated with conversion of coal, coal and lignite are essential if Texas is to have the power it needs as utilities reduce their dependence on natural gas.
LCSYSTEM
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Volume 12, Number 12, November 1978
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