As CATF works to reduce air pollution from the nation's dirtiest power plants, we are advancing study and eventual commercialization of a power generation technology that converts coal to energy without burning it – thus drastically lowering and in some cases virtually eliminating polluting air emissions. Adopted widely, this technology, known as Integrated Gasification/Combined Cycle (IGCC) with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), could significantly reduce the environmental toll of coal use.

CATF is working with MIT's Laboratory on Energy and the Environment to explore the potential applications and effects of IGCC/CCS in conventional energy production, and its viability in today's marketplace. Bringing IGCC/CCS into widespread commercial use will involve a complicated process of market transformation, integration of upstream and downstream players in the engineering, power generation, coal and financial industry, and the development of social and cultural acceptance of this emerging technology. But its promise is not to be ignored: 90% (or more) of coal's carbon content can be readily captured and other key emissions related to the burning of coal (SO2, nitrogen oxides, mercury) can be either removed in production or reduced to trace amounts or to levels consistent with cleaner gas plant emission levels. We believe this technology will likely be a major player in a future power generation landscape of low or zero carbon and is likely an essential element to any effective approach to climate change for the foreseeable future.

• CATF has completed three in-depth, peer-reviewed studies on IGCC economics, IGCC environmental impacts, and CCS environmental impacts, with some of the world's leading experts on these topics. The studies, nearly three years in the making, are state of the art presentations on the environmental profile of these new technologies and some of the economic barriers to their adoption.


A schematic diagram of IGCC technology, which uses a chemical process, rather than combustion, to convert coal to energy. The result is much lower emissions of key pollutants, and relatively easy separation of CO2 from the process, for geologic sequestration.
• CATF briefed more than 100 audiences, including members of Congress and the Administration, environmentalists, foundation officials, state regulators, media, and industrial representatives on IGCC and its potential importance to contribute to achieving world climate protection objectives.
• CATF commissioned a study of what it would take to commercialize IGCC technologies through commercial markets without necessarily relying on subsidies or other government policy instruments. The study, completed by a leading business strategy firm, sets out a roadmap for developing an industry cluster of players to collaborate on finding purely economic applications of the technology.
• CATF worked with MIT to develop the outlines of a long range study on the future of coal under carbon constraints, including the potential for IGCC/CCS to supply hydrogen and hydrogen-rich liquids for transportation.