Dakota Gasification Company

The Dakota Gasification Company is a synthetic natural gas producing company founded in 1984 in Beulah, North Dakota, United States. It is an operator of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant. The plant is located at 47°21′27.75″N 101°50′28.72″W.[1] The plant uses lignite coal to produce synthetic natural gas utilizing a coal gasification process. The plant processes 16 thousand tons of coal daily. Coal is oxidized to coal gas, which is then converted from a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen to methane, by hydrogenation over a nickel catalyst. The synthetic natural gas (95% methane, 975 BTU per cubic foot) is pipelined to the Northern Border Pipeline which transports gas from Canada, Montana and North Dakota to the Ventura, Iowa area, where the pipeline interconnects with many pipelines supplying the eastern United States. The Dakota Gasification Company is a subsidiary of the Basin Electric Power Cooperative which is located in Bismarck, North Dakota.[2]

The company ships generated byproduct carbon dioxide via a high pressure pipeline to an oilfield in Saskatchewan in Canada where it is used for enhanced oil recovery from the Weyburn oil field near Weyburn, Saskatchewan (Canada).[3]

The plant also produces ammonium sulfate, anhydrous ammonia, phenol, cresylic acid, methanol, and naphtha. These materials are by-products of coal gasification. The plant also produces liquid nitrogen, krypton and xenon as a by-product of liquid oxygen production. Oxygen is utilized in the initial oxidation of coal.