GE executive says planned Wyoming "coal into gas" plant will test economic feasibility

A $100 million facility that will experiment with turning coal into gas could open up a range of new uses for Wyoming coal, a General Electric executive says.

Research at the High Plains Gasification-Advanced Technology Center will focus on turning Wyoming coal into a gas similar to natural gas. The gas could then be burned to produce power that’s cleaner than when coal is burned directly.

The gas also could be used to make other products.

"We can turn it into fuels, we can turn it into plastics, we can turn it into natural gas, we can turn it into all sorts of things," Keith White, GE’s director of gasification products, said Thursday in Cheyenne.

The only question, he said, is whether those things will be economical.

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press writer

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