NW Innovation Works

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NW Innovation Works (Northwest Innovation Works or NWIW) is a company proposing methanol refineries in the Pacific Northwest region. The company refers to itself as a clean tech company.

Contents

Company history

The company was founded in 2011 by the Pan-Pacific Energy Corp, owned by Shanghai Bi Ke Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd, the private equity arm of the government-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences, and BP, who later sold their share of the company. [1] Johnson Matthey joined in 2015, and by 2016 a shareholder was Stonepeak Partners, a private equity firm managing over $5 billion in equity in 2016. [2]

The natural gas feedstock, typically produced by fracking and supplied through the Northwest Pipeline, would go through a methane reforming process to produce liquid methane, which would be shipped to Dalian, China for plastics production. [3] [4]

Proposed facilities

Tacoma, Washington

After lobbying on a 2013 Chinese trade mission by Washington State's governor Jay Inslee, [5] NWIW announced plans to build "the world's largest methanol plant" in Tacoma, Washington, at the site of a former Kaiser Aluminum smelter. The plant was announced in 2014 and canceled in 2016 after protests and lawsuits. [6] [1]

Kalama, Washington

NWIW announced their planned liquid methanol plant at the Port of Kalama in Kalama, Washington. The company touts this refinery as reducing greenhouse gas emissions by displacing coal plants in China, though the Stockholm Environment Institute and others dispute this, stating greenhouse gas emissions would increase, displacing sources other than coal plants. [7] [8] [6]

The Kalama plant would also use a Zero Liquid Discharge system to prevent waste products from flowing into the Columbia River. [7]

While the plant has been touted as displacing coal-to-plastics processes, OPB obtained documents showing that in 2019 the company said the methanol would be used as fuel in China. [9] [10]

Financing for the plant may be backed with a $2 billion federal loan guarantee, as well as federal and state grants, loans, and tax breaks. [6]

Clatskanie, Oregon

NWIW also has plans to build a methane reforming facility on the Columbia River at Port Westward industrial park near Clatskanie, Oregon. [1] [11] [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

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Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or a bioreactor. The gas composition is primarily methane and carbon dioxide and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, moisture and siloxanes. The gases methane and hydrogen, can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used in fuel cells and for heating purpose, such as in cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrolysis</span> Thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere

The pyrolysis process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere. Temperature can be understood as thermal vibration. At high temperatures, excessive vibration causes long chain molecules to break into smaller molecules. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro "fire", "heat", "fever" and lysis "separating".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emission intensity</span> Emission rate of a pollutant

An emission intensity is the emission rate of a given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity, or an industrial production process; for example grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced, or the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions produced to gross domestic product (GDP). Emission intensities are used to derive estimates of air pollutant or greenhouse gas emissions based on the amount of fuel combusted, the number of animals in animal husbandry, on industrial production levels, distances traveled or similar activity data. Emission intensities may also be used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. In some case the related terms emission factor and carbon intensity are used interchangeably. The jargon used can be different, for different fields/industrial sectors; normally the term "carbon" excludes other pollutants, such as particulate emissions. One commonly used figure is carbon intensity per kilowatt-hour (CIPK), which is used to compare emissions from different sources of electrical power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methanol economy</span>

The methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol and dimethyl ether replace fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. It offers an alternative to the proposed hydrogen economy or ethanol economy, though these concepts are not exclusive.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon footprint</span> Concept to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from activities or products

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States</span> Climate changing gases from the North American country

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methane</span> Hydrocarbon compound (CH₄); main component of natural gas

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impact of the petroleum industry</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon-neutral fuel</span> Type of fuel which have no net greenhouse gas emissions

Carbon-neutral fuel is fuel which produces no net-greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. In practice, this usually means fuels that are made using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock. Proposed carbon-neutral fuels can broadly be grouped into synthetic fuels, which are made by chemically hydrogenating carbon dioxide, and biofuels, which are produced using natural CO2-consuming processes like photosynthesis.

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Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) to be recycled for further usage. Carbon capture and utilization may offer a response to the global challenge of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from major stationary (industrial) emitters.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tacoma methanol project canceled". thenewstribune. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  2. "NWIW presentation - redacted PDF" (PDF). columbiariverkeeper.org. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  3. "Some answers to the methanol-plant questions fueling impassioned debate". bellinghamherald. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  4. "China-backed company envisions major methanol export plants at Kalama, Clatskanie". Longview Daily News. January 22, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2019. The company's Chinese client is hungry for large quantities of the product, which would be shipped from the Columbia River ports on 50,000-metric-ton Panamax ships to Dalian.
  5. "Methanol proposal arrived in Tacoma after extensive Inslee courtship". thenewstribune. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 "Taxpayers May Soon Be on the Hook for a $2 Billion Fracked Gas Refinery". Pacific Standard. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Proposed Kalama Methanol Plant to Bring Dramatic GHG Reductions Northwest Innovation Works will Mitigate 100% of In-State Emissions - NW Innovation Works". nwinnovationworks.com. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  8. "Kalama methanol plant could increase global GHG emissions | SEI". SEI. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  9. Solomon, Molly. "For Plastics Or Fuel? A Controversial Methanol Plant May Be Misleading The Public, Regulators". opb.org. Retrieved May 19, 2019. Documents obtained by OPB show that NWIW is saying one thing to state regulators while eyeing China's fuels market. As recently as January 2019, PowerPoint presentations shown to potential investors in the Kalama facility detailed the company's apparent intent to burn their methanol for fuel in China.
  10. "NWIW presentation - OPB (PDF)" (PDF). opb-imgserve-production.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  11. NW Innovation Works (February 2016). "Gas to Methanol Facility at the Port of St. Helens (Fact Sheet)" (PDF). Pamplin Media . Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  12. Vaughn, Courtney (May 20, 2016). "New details emerge about methanol plant proposal". Portland Tribune . Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  13. de Place, Eric; Adjorlolo, Maoulay (August 17, 2015). "What Methanol Means for the Northwest". Sightline Institute. Retrieved May 19, 2019.