North Dakota synthetic gas plant gets $48M upgrade to fix problem that caused lengthy shutdown

ND synthetic gas plant gets $48M upgrade

BISMARCK, N.D. — The Great Plains Synfuels Plant in western North Dakota has undergone a $48 million upgrade to combat a problem that caused a lengthy shut down more than two years ago.

Production was halted for 41 days beginning December 2007 to repair cracks in a processing unit that extracts chemicals from the plant’s synthetic gas.

“When that went down, the whole plant went with it,” said Daryl Hill, a spokesman for Dakota Gasification Co., a subsidiary of Bismarck-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

The shutdown at the plant near Beulah was estimated to cost its owners about $1 million daily in lost natural gas sales.

Hill said a second processing unit went online last month, after two years of design work and construction.

The new unit had to be integrated with the existing one, which posed a big challenge for engineers, he said.

“Fixing the problem was no small undertaking,” Hill said.

Both units will run continuously at half-capacity; when one unit is shutdown for maintenance, they second unit will run at full capacity, Hill said on Thursday.

“This gives us a good, reliable system for the years ahead,” he said.

The plant produces about 150 million cubic feet of gas daily from lignite coal. It was built in response to the energy crisis of the 1970s to make natural gas from lignite, a low-grade coal abundant in North Dakota.

The gasification process at Great Plains involves using high-pressure steam and air to break down lignite — about 18,000 tons daily — to make natural gas that is piped to Iowa, where it is distributed to markets in the eastern and southeastern United States.