§13334 Nonfuel Use of Coal

Summary

The Secretary must make a plan and run a program to research, test, and help commercialize ways to use coal for things other than burning it for fuel. The program covers making coke and other carbon products; making coal-based chemical building blocks and chemicals from gas made from coal; treating and processing coal to produce low-ash, low-sulfur chemical raw materials; and finding uses for coal wastes like sulfur, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and ash. The plan must study current and possible processes for making products for the chemical, power, fuel, and materials industries. It must look at costs, benefits, and whether these uses are economically feasible; the economics of making multiple products along with electricity or fuel; the costs of processing coal and its byproducts for nonfuel products; how coal compares with other raw materials; steps government and industry can take to commercialize the technologies; and the past, present, and future prospects of these coal products and methods.