Bismarck man becomes national coal power adviser

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota physicist has been appointed to help advise the U.S. Secretary of Energy on coal power.

Mike Jones, vice president of research and development for the Lignite Energy Council and technical adviser to the North Dakota Industrial Commission, has been appointed to the National Coal Council, the Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/1EbyYbW ) reported.

The National Coal Council was chartered in 1984 to make recommendations on coal- related policy to the Secretary of Energy.

"I hope anyone who chooses to go into the sciences wants to make a difference and change the fate of the world," said Jones, pointing out that's what he hopes to do with his new appointment — make a difference.

"I think they try to have a diversity of people (on the council)," he said.

When Jones was asked to participate, he told the council's secretary he was not a politician, he was a technology specialist.

"She said, 'That's good. That's what we want,'" he said.

The council meets twice annually to develop a white paper on key issues surrounding coal. Jones said he hopes to add a better understanding of current and developing technology options with his background as a researcher.

"I think it gives us a voice to the administration that they can trust his expertise that we can continue to burn lignite coal efficiently and cleanly as well as develop new uses for it," Lignite Energy Council's executive director, Jason Bohrer, said of Jones' appointment. "He really brings a level of scientific credibility."

Up until now, lignite's voice on the council was John Dwyer, former Lignite Energy Council executive director. Bohrer said Dwyer understood policy and was a great advocate. Now, Jones will bring the perspective of how the science works.

According to the Lignite Energy Council, more than 27 million tons of lignite are produced in North Dakota annually, generating electricity for 2 million people in the region. The lignite industry accounts for $3 billion in gross business volume annually and $100 million in state taxes.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement he appointed Jones to "represent the viewpoints of associations that advance the economic, efficient and environmentally clean uses of lignite coal and products derived from lignite coal."

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For the Lignite Energy Council, Jones spends much of his time traveling to other lignite coal-powered countries and other states with lignite resources learning about the latest technologies. A few weeks ago, he went from Denver to Pittsburgh to Austin. Before that, he was in Germany and Australia.

"It's where things are going on," he said.

Jones recently spent time at a new combined cycle coal and natural gas-fired plant in Mississippi designed to capture 65 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions. Last week, he was at a Canadian plant working on carbon capture in Regina. He said he is confident the new plants' technologies will work given time and said new technology development is where exciting things are going to happen in the years to come.

"It's exciting to me," he said. "It's what gets me to work every day."

Jones first experience with lignite coal and the U.S. Department of Energy came in 1979, where he worked as a spectroscopist specializing in combustion and coal in Grand Forks. He continued at the Grand Forks facility for 30 years, during which time it became the Energy and Environmental Research Center. In 2009, he joined the Lignite Energy Council staff.

The Bemidji, Minnesota, native became interested in North Dakota's coal industry while completing his master's degree and doctorate at the University of North Dakota in 1971. He was the first person to get a doctorate in physics from the university.

After school, Jones said he received offers to teach or to do research. He chose research for the Department of Energy because he said it fit his interests better. Learning how to solve problems and making effective use of North Dakota's coal resource appealed to him.

One of the first problems Jones helped solve while working for EERC was mitigating deposits caused by ash in power plant boiler towers. Prior to his research findings, power plants were shutting down to clean the towers or giving operators shotguns to shoot it off the walls.

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Now, the North Dakota coal Industry is facing another challenge, this time with meeting upcoming regulations on carbon emissions, Jones said.

"We don't have the silver bullet right now," he said, but as a director of the state's research program into coal technology he is aiming to help find one.

"We have to do it smart, and I think we can," he said.

Jones said, as a physicist, he knows the greenhouse gas effect is a real phenomenon but said, so far, the timeline of its effects have been wrong.

"In science, you have to observe first and then think," he said. "Today, I think too many are thinking first."

Jones said a carbon-based society needs coal power and eliminating it would cause harm.

"If you say we need to have a cleaner system, I'm all for that," he said.

In North Dakota, Jones said the reborn oil industry needs power, and lots of it.

"I think there's some nexus there and some great opportunities," he said. "We don't have it today, but we have ideas."

For example, the EERC is studying the use of captured CO2 from coal power in enhanced oil recovery.

In the past 15 to 20 years, the lignite industry has cut 90 percent of its pollutants, such as mercury and nitrogen oxides. The dry fining process used by Great River Energy, which dries lignite before burning it, has cut CO2 emissions significantly by allowing coal plants to produce more energy with less coal.

Jones said researchers are studying a new technology called the Allam Cycle, which, if it works, would increase efficiency by 50 percent and capture all CO2. He said they're also studying new ways to get at deeper coal reserves using underground coal gasification.

"All I can do is honestly talk about what the science is — what we have and what we can do," Jones said. "I hope that I can help to balance the path going forward."

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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com

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