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By way of acknowledging WVU's excellent football season, and their upcoming appearance, against Florida State University, and the old friend who coaches that squad, in the Gator Bowl, we thought we would document for you that, even in a state where they have no mine-able coal, they still know that coal can be converted into liquid fuels.
They are, in fact, as the enclosed link and following excerpt attest, using advanced technology to assess the characteristics of liquids made from coal; which, we conclude, based on the topics specified in their study, is work intended to identify the refining parameters of coal-derived liquids; i.e., what is required to further refine them into liquid fuels compatible with our current transportation fleet and infrastructure.
Brief comment follows the excerpt:
"ESI FT-ICR mass spectral analysis of coal liquefaction products
Zhigang Wu, Ryan P. Rodgers and Alan G. Marshall
Ion Cyclotron Resonance Program, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, 1800 East Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32310-4005, USA
Zhigang Wu, Ryan P. Rodgers and Alan G. Marshall
Ion Cyclotron Resonance Program, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, 1800 East Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32310-4005, USA
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
14 March 2005
Abstract
We have applied electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) to analyze the pyridine soluble fraction of a distillation resid and a further processed liquid product in a coal liquefaction process. The inherent high resolving power and mass accuracy of FT-ICR MS makes it possible to resolve and identify polar heteroatomic species. The resid contains more heteroatomic compounds and a higher molecular weight distribution whereas the liquid sample is lower in average mass and more saturated. The data confirms that the liquefaction process produces lower mass, hydrogenated liquid product whereas the resid (highly aromatic and of high heteroatom content) must be recycled to reduce its heteroatom content and increase its degree of saturation."
Now, we have no idea where Florida State actually got coal, or coal liquids, to fiddle around with, unless Coach Bowden smuggled some out of West Virginia in his suitcase when he defected many decades ago.
But, get coal liquids they did. And, they confirm that coal can be transformed into an "hydrogenated liquid product", and, that, as we have documented from other sources, "resid", or residual mass left over from the initial liquefaction of coal, can be "recycled to reduce" impurities "and increase its degree of saturation."
That is, as we have previously reported from other sources, residual carbonaceous material left behind by primary coal liquefaction processes can itself be processed, "recycled", via different techniques, to remove "heteroatomic" contaminants, such as Sulfur, as per earlier references, "increase its degree of saturation", and thus yield even more hydrocarbon liquids suitable for refining into fuel.
In a state where they have no coal, the Florida State Seminoles know that coal can be efficiently, and thoroughly, converted into liquids that can be refined into clean substitutes for the petroleum-based fuels currently used by our US transportation fleet.
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There is, it seems, a coal liquefaction information resource, compiled by the University of Pittsburgh, a founding member, with WVU, of the Consortium for Fossil Fuel Liquefaction Science, for the US Department of Energy, under Contract Number FG22-83PC60054, available from our Federal Government.
A description of it's 680 pages, accessed through the above link, is as follows:
"Title: Coal liquefaction: investigation of reactor performance, role of catalysts, and PCT properties. Technical progress report
Authors: Brainard, A.; Shah, Y.; Tierney, J; Wender, I.; Joseph, S.; Kerkar, A.: Ozturk, S.; Sayari, A.
Organization: Pittsburgh Univ., PA (USA). Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Published: November 1, 1985; Report Number: DOE/PC/60054-T9; Other Number: DE86004388
Abstract:
This report is divided into two sections plus an appendix. The first section reports on computer simulations which were developed for three important coal liquefaction processes - the Mobil Methanol to Gasoline (MTG) process, the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process, and the synthesis of methanol. The models are designed to be general and information such as new kinetic equations or new physical property information can be readily added. Each of the models also provides for alternate reactor configurations. A comparison of results obtained using the models and results reported in the literature is included to verify the model. Comparisons of alternate processing methods are also included to provide guidance in the selection of a reactor configuration for a specific process. Complete program listings are given in the Appendix, and sample problems with inputs and outputs are provided for the user. The programs are written in the FORTRAN language. It is ultimately desirable to make these models available in a form which can be used in ASPEN, the process simulator developed for DOE. As a first step, the use of ASPEN PLUS to predict thermodynamic and transport properties of systems of interest to coal liquefaction was studied. In the second section, five areas of potential importance to indirect and direct coal liquefaction are reviewed. They are the synthesis of methanol via methyl formate, the role of carbon dioxide in methanol synthesis, the synthesis of methanol using noble metal catalysts, the catalytic synthesis of higher alcohols from a new, high-yield sulfur-tolerant catalyst, and the direct liquefaction of coal mixed with heavy oils - so-called coprocessing. Seven papers in the two sections have been processed for inclusion in the Energy Data Base.
Availability: NTIS. PC A99/MF A01: 1"
We did track it down through the National Technical Information Service and acquired the following link and excerpt:
Coal Liquefaction: Investigation of Reactor Performance, Role of Catalysts, and PCT Properties. Technical Progress Report.
Pittsburgh University; Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.
Product Type: Technical Report; NTIS Order Number: DE86004388
$50.00 - Electronic Document
$65.00 - Customized CD
$77.00 - Microfiche
$124.00 - Print on Demand"
Circumstances prevent us from acquiring this apparently-impressive work that deals not only with coal conversion into the liquid fuels we need, but, apparently to some extent, with Carbon Dioxide recycling as well, as in: "carbon dioxide in methanol synthesis", above.
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A2BE Carbon Capture, LLC | Accelergy Alliance - USAF CRADA On Advanced Synthetic Jet Fuels from Algae/Coal Conversion
Over the months, we have many times documented the US Defense Department's extensive development, through the Navy and the Air Force, of technologies to convert our abundant coal into needed liquid fuels, and to recycle Carbon Dioxide into even more liquid fuels.
As we have documented: One Defense Department official some years ago referred to West Virginia, based on what he knew to be the reality of practical coal-to-liquid conversion technology, as the "New Kuwait"; and, the Department of Defense, through proxies, holds US patents on technologies that can recycle Carbon Dioxide directly into liquid fuels.
Herein, it is documented that the Air Force is at work not just on converting coal into the liquid fuels it needs, but on an indirect method of CO2 recycling, as well; one which we have also documented from other sources: The co-liquefaction of algae, with coal, to synthesize liquid fuels.
An excerpt:
"Accelergy Alliance - USAF CRADA On Advanced Synthetic Jet Fuels from Algae/Coal Conversion
Air Force Research Laboratory
Propulsion Directorate
Energy/Power/Thermal Division
Accelergy Contact: Dr. Rocco A Fiato
VP Business Development & Planning
Accelergy Corporation
18000 Groeschke Road
Houston, TX 77084
USAF Contact: Dr. James T Edwards
AFRL/RZPF
Wright Patterson AFB
Dayton Ohio 45433
The Accelergy Alliance is addressing the simultaneous challenges of increasing the supply of secure fuels, while controlling greenhouse gas emissions, which requires the global deployment of carbon efficient energy systems. One strategic option is to develop energy conversion technologies that enable CO2 to be used as a feedstock for the production of low carbon footprint fuels. This concept is being advanced by the National Academy of Science, the US Department of Energy, the RAND Corporation - USAF, among others. A potentially viable approach for this involves conversion of CO2 from industrial emission sources to algal biomass followed by its conversion to clean fuels and chemicals. Such a synthetic fuel manufacturing process system could use domestic resources to produce fuels that emit significantly fewer greenhouse gasses than current technology (lifecycle basis). Accelergy's proposed project aims to conduct pilot-scale studies to demonstrate just such a technology platform for Integrated Carbon to Liquids (ICTL) conversion of CO2/algal biomass, configured to operate alone or with other carbon based feedstocks such as cellulosic biomass and/or coal.
Accelergy and its Alliance partners have developed high efficiency integrated process schemes for beneficial CO2 utilization via four major process steps: 1- CO2 Carbon Capture and Recycle (CC&R) to Algae via Montana State University algae strains produced with A2BE Carbon Capture Advanced Photobioreactor Technology; 2- Micro Catalytic Liquefaction (MCL) licensed from ExxonMobil Corporation; 3- Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation and Isomerization (CHI) licensed from UND-EERC; and 4- Steam Hydro-Gasification (SHG) under development at UC Riverside and Viresco Energy LLC.
Our collaborative program with AFRL will confirm the unique high temperature stability and high energy density of our synthetic JP8 that is 100% derived from biomass/coal. We are planning to combine our coal derived fuels with a biomass derived fuels EERC recently prepared in response to a DARPA program - and believe the combination will more than satisfy USAF objectives re energy security, sourcing of high quality/performance JP8 from domestic resources, and overall environmental responsiveness vis GHG emissions. We also believe the unique molecular composition of our fuels (almost 100% cyclo-paraffinic with controlled levels of specific isoparaffins) may make them interesting candidates for UAV fuel applications where high volumetric energy density could be important, and for next generation fighter aircraft where high thermal stability is a necessary feature."
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None of the above should be unfamiliar to any who have followed our posts. All of the technologies named herein have been documented by us from other, independent and credible, sources. What is incredible, though, is that the US public, most especially the US public resident in Coal Country, should have been left for so long unaware of these facts.
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Herein is even more documentation that Carbon Dioxide, as is emitted into the atmosphere by coal-use industry in a small way compared to Hawaii's volcanoes, as we long-ago documented, can be economically recovered from the atmosphere itself in an energy-efficient way.
Carbon Dioxide recovery units could thus be placed in areas where environmental energy - wind, solar, etc. - could be harnessed to accomplish the capture and, then, through the Sabatier, Carnol or USDOD technologies we've documented for you, be transformed into additional liquid fuels or chemical manufacturing feed stocks.
We have previously reported on the work of Penn State University's Craig Grimes in carbon transformation sciences, so it's not that remarkable we cite his achievements yet again.
There is something we do find remarkable about this submission, though, as we explain in the comment appended, following the excerpt:
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"Washington, Feb 28 (ANI): A team of scientists at Penn State University has come up with an ingenious method of turning captured CO2 into methane, a combustible fuel, using the energy of the sun.
The team, led by Craig Grimes, described a highly efficient photocatalyst that can yield significant amounts of methane, other hydrocarbons, and hydrogen in a simple, inexpensive process.
The team used arrays of nitrogen-doped titania nanotubes sputter-coated with an ultrathin layer of a platinum and/or copper co-catalyst(s).
The titania captures high energy ultraviolet wavelengths, while the copper shifts the bandgap into the visible wavelengths to better utilize the part of the solar spectrum where most of the energy lies.
In addition, the thin-walled nanotubes increase the transport ability of the charge carriers by reducing the chance for recombination of the electron with the hole.
The nanotube arrays were placed inside a stainless steel chamber filled with carbon dioxide infused with water vapor.
The chamber was then set outdoors in sunlight. After a few hours, the team measured the amount of CO2 converted into useful fuels.
The results showed 160 uL of methane per hour per gram of nanotubes, a conversion rate approximately 20 times higher than previous efforts done under laboratory conditions using pure UV light.
Copper oxide and titanium dioxide are common materials, Grimes said. We can tune the reaction using platinum nanoparticles or ideally other, less expensive catalysts, he added.
According to Grimes, the conversion process can readily be improved by several orders of magnitude, which could make the process economically feasible.
You could have a small scale solar condenser and a concentrated source of CO2 in a closed loop cycle to make a portable fuel. Its a good way of storing energy for when the sun goes down, he suggested.
Inexpensive solar concentrators could improve the process, as the photocatalytic CO2 conversion appears to scale with the intensity of sunlight.
Capturing CO2 at source points, such as fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, etc.), burning power plants, and turning it into a transportation fuel in a cheap, sunlight-driven process could dramatically improve the economics of CO2 capture.
Then maybe we could figure out how to capture and reuse the CO2 in our vehicles and none of it would go back into the atmosphere, Grimes proposed."
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The zinc chloride process for the hydrocracking of coal. F. E. Biasca. 2007; International Journal of Energy Research - Wiley.
We earlier reported on the Zinc Chloride Process of Coal Liquefaction - developed under a USDOE contract by coal scientists working for oil companies, and reported mainly in obscure, overseas foreign venues.
One report somehow slipped through their bars, and was delivered at the University of Pittsburgh, in 1979.
Brief comment follows the revealing excerpt:
"The Zinc Chloride Process for the Hydrocracking of Coal
F.E Biasca, C.R. Greene, W.E. Clark, R.T. Struck
Shell Development Company, Houston, TX 77001 USA
Conoco Coal Development Company, Library, PA 15129 USA
The substance of this paper was presented at the 6th Annual Conference on Coal Gasification, Liquefaction and Conversion to Electricity, University of Pittsburgh, 31 July-2 August, 1979
Funded by:
U.S. Department of Energy; Grant Number: DOE EX-76-C-01-1743
Abstract
The molten zinc chloride process is a unique hydrocracking system that converts coal to gasoline in a single step. an economically attractive process is currently under development at the one ton per day process development unit (PDU) scale. the design and economics of a plant to produce 53,000 bbl/day of gasoline with 90-92 unleaded research octane number from Western coal is discussed. the construction cost of the plant will be about 1.9 billion dollars (1979); the cost of manufacturing gasoline is about 76c/ gallon."
In 1979, a coal producer owned by a major petroleum company revealed, at a conference held by one of the founding members of, what was originally called, as we've elsewhere documented, The Consortium For Fossil Fuel Liquefaction Science, that gasoline could be made from coal - at a cost of 76 cents per gallon.
To repeat: Two oil companies - one of them through it's coal industry subsidiary - and the United States Department of Energy told us, thirty years ago, that we could make gasoline out of coal for 76 cents per gallon.
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