Riverview Energy Corporation President Greg Merle officially committed today to ensuring that Riverview Energy Corporation, including the Dale, Indiana hydrogen-fueled plant will become carbon neutral by 2050.
“We have a very real opportunity to make our operations carbon neutral through a range of measures over the next 29 years,” said Merle. “In fact the carbon-based portion of our fuel-conversion process, in which we use high-sulfur coal in a noncombustible method, is already CO2 free. Our biggest target will be to focus on other pieces of the operation, and we have clear-cut paths to make that happen.”
Riverview Energy plans to use diverse electric-energy sources, such as renewable-generated electricity from regional providers, work with contract services that use carbon-free methods and sources, invest in carbon offset options, and to adopt emerging technologies that will take the operation from a gray-hydrogen process today to green-hydrogen over the next three decades.
“We are forerunners, as our Dale project proves even at this stage – being the first to use a carbon asset in a clean process to develop a cleaner end-use fuel,” said Merle. “So we have the ideal mind-set from the start to bring emerging technologies onboard our operations in the near- and longer-term future, and further cut our carbon footprint.”
Riverview Energy bringing hydrogen-fuel industry to Southwest Indiana
Riverview Energy is on track to contribute significantly to the green-hydrogen economy as the first U.S. direct carbon-hydrogenation refinery, which will produce ultra-low-sulfur diesel that is 30% cleaner than the ULSD standard. The Dale plant will be the first greenfield refinery permitted in almost 50 years.
The plant will have a significantly lower carbon foot-print than other technologies, and nothing will go to waste because all of the plant’s products will be marketable. The Riverview Energy plant will use a Nobel-Prize winning process already used by competing nations to get a leg up on the global energy race. With the direct carbon-hydrogenation process, coal particles are processed via a carbon dioxide-free method that does not burn or gasify the coal. From there, the particles are hydrogenated in a closed system at high pressure and temperature.
The company plans to build more plants in the future, and make its hydrogenation process a valuable part of the U.S. energy independence mix.
New global shipping regulations in effect this year are causing a surge in demand for ULSD. Riverview Energy’s product will help close the fuel gap created by these new regulations. Locally used Riverview products will reduce the need for imports, fulfilling the need for energy independence and allowing the shipping industry to meet its goal of reducing its global footprint.
