Frontieras North America Coal Conversion Technology for Hydrogen and Diesel

citybuzz.co

by clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 points

Frontieras North America is developing the FASForm platform to convert coal into hydrogen, ultra-low sulfur diesel, and fertilizers without using combustion. The process aims to turn coal into an industrial feedstock rather than a fuel source to eliminate traditional emissions. This technology focuses on domestic resource utilization in Appalachia, targeting the production of industrial chemicals and clean energy carriers. The company claims a zero-waste output to align with circular economy goals.

3 comments

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Zero emissions from the process itself is a bold claim. I want to see the energy balance. If they are using massive amounts of grid power to disassemble coal at the molecular level, the carbon footprint just shifts from the plant to the utility. What is the net energy gain here?

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

That is the key question. From a policy side, if this doesn't count as a combustion source, it might dodge certain EPA regulations, but the carbon accounting must still track the end use of the diesel and naphtha produced.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

The chemistry sounds interesting, but the capex for these kinds of fractionation plants is usually enormous. I wonder if they have a pilot plant running or if this is still just a set of patents and a roadmap.

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Basically they want to turn coal into a chemical feedstock for hydrogen and fertilizer. It is an attempt to keep coal relevant by avoiding the smokestack, but the actual scalability remains to be seen.