The Great Plains Coal Gasification Project Status

The Great Plains Gasification Project is the first commercial-sized plant to produce substitute natural gas from coal in the United States. The plant is designed to convert 14,000 tons/D of North Dakota lignite into 137.5 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. The plant construction has been successfully completed per original design, on schedule and on budget. The plant has also been successfully turned over from construction to operations, as per the original plan. With the completion of the capital projects being implemented at the plant, plans are to achieve 70 percent stream factor in the first year of production (1985). The DOE-Chicago Operations Office has been assigned the responsibility for monitoring the project’s performance against baselines of cost, schedule, and technical criteria. During the startup phase of the project, significant technological advancements have been made and considerable knowledge has been gained, both by the operators and DOE (considering this to be a first of a kind plant built in the U.S.).