- Details
The lengths to which the petroleum powers will go to hide and obfuscate the facts of coal-to-liquid conversion technology would be amusing, if the issue weren't of such critical economic importance to the US, and, especially, to the people of Coal Country. The fact that we allow those oily gangsters to get away with it all is more than a little bemusing.
We've reported on Amoco Oil's GUV-sponsored fox-guarding-the-henhouse development of the "H-Coal", coal liquefaction, technology at a pilot plant in Catlettsburg, Kentucky.
It's been darned tough to find out anything substantive about that project. The DOE has a few modest quarterly reports that might, or might not, be available. But, to get the full story on converting Kentucky coal into domestic liquid fuels for the United States, we had to go to Greece - we think. Maybe it's Turkey. Might as well be Mars, for all the good it's done for those of us in Coal Country.
Check it out, seriously, and tell us with a straight face nobody's trying to hide anything.
The excerpt:
Επίδειξη του Tίτλου:  10 από 10 | |
| Doc ID | PAPYR-2876 |
| Doc Type | Report |
| Author | Vasalos, Iacovos A. |
| Title | Study of ebullated bed fluid dynamics for H-Coal. Quarterly progress report No. 1, August 22 - November 30, 1977 |
| Related Documents | 1. Study of ebullated bed fluid dynamics for H-Coal. Quarterly progress report No. 4, September 1 - November 30, 1978 (1978) 2. Study of ebullated bed fluid dynamics for H-Coal. Quarterly progress report No. 3, March 1, 1978 - May 31, 1978 (1978) 3. Study of ebullated bed fluid dynamics for H-Coal. Quarterly progress report No. 2, December 1, 1977 - February 28, 1978 (1978) 4. Study of ebullated bed fluid dynamics for H-Coal. Quarterly progress report No. 6, March 1 - May 31, 1979 (1979) |
| Pages | 1 - 22 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year | 1977 |
| Organization | Amoco Research Center |
| Abstract | The H-Coal process, developed by Hydrocarbon Research, Incorporated (HRI), involves the direct catalytic hydroliquefaction of coal to low-sulfur boiler fuel or synthetic crude oil. The 200-600 ton-per-day H-Coal pilot plant is being constructed next to the Ashland Oil, Incorporated refinery at Catlettsburg, Kentucky under ERDA contract to Ashland Synthetic Fuels, Incorporated. The H-Coal ebullated bed reactor contains at least four discrete components: gas, liquid, catalyst, and unconverted coal and ash. Because of the complexity created by these four components, it is desirable to understand the fluid dynamics of the system. The objective of this program is to establish the dependence of the ebullated bed fluid dynamics on process parameters. This will permit improved control of the ebullated bed reactor. The work to be performed is divided into three parts: review of prior work, cold flow model construction and operations, and mathematical modelling. The objective of this quarterly progress report is to outline progress in the first two parts during the first three months of the project. |
| Keywords | Coal liquefaction ; Liquefaction ; Thermochemical processes ; |
| Other Author(s) | Bild, E. M. / Amoco Research Center Evans, T. D. / Amoco Research Center Shields, S. E. / Amoco Research Center Tatterson, David F. / Amoco Research Center Wallin, C. C. / Amoco Research Center |
| Language | English" |
Well, they did give up contact links to a whole flock of US Amoco researchers. If anybody's really interested in the story, there's a place to start - if any of 'em will fess up to speaking English.
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This peculiar artifact from our DOE contains the following, both exculpatory and incriminating, disclaimer:
"Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted."
It was first published in early December, 1985.
The details:
"Title: "New technology concept for two-stage liquefaction of coal: conceptual commercial plant design and economics"
Authors: Abrams, L. M.; Caruso, R.; Duddy, J. E.; MacArthur, J. B.; Srouji, M.
Affiliation: Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., Lawrenceville, NJ (USA)
Report: DOE/PC/60017-T2
Contract: AC22-83PC60017
Abstract:
Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. (HRI) is conducting a program for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for evaluation of a ''New Technology'' concept for Catalytic Two-Stage Liquefaction of coal. HRI has demonstrated greatly improved coal liquefaction process performance by Catalytic Two-Stage Liquefaction (CTSL). (Bench-scale screening studies identified an improved set of operating conditions for Illinois No. 6 (Burning Star Mine) coal and a demonstration run (227-20) at these conditions has been completed. Results from this run were used as a basis for this conceptual plant design and economics study.) The purpose of this study is to identify the economic incentive for CTSL over the conventional single-stage H-Coal Process. This information will be used to guide future experiments for further process optimization. Preliminary designs for CTSL (based on Run 227-20) and the H-Coal Process liquefaction sections are developed based on HRI's design experience from the Breckinridge Project and H-Coal Pilot Plant operations at Catlettsburg. Complete conceptual commercial plant designs are developed for grassroots facilities using HRI's Process Planning LP Model. Product costs are calculated and economic sensitivities are analyzed. Results of the economic evaluation show CTSL reduces the product costs by 12% compared to the single-stage H-Coal Process. 140 refs., 9 figs., 55 tabs."
So, like the Oklahoma research we earlier reported, we have herein more government-sponsored research into the technology for converting coal into the liquid fuels our nation needs, in a state that has no coal. And, we again have mention of Kentucky's Breckinridge and Catlettsburg coal-to-liquid conversion projects, but no linkage, no references, no access to reportage.
But, we do have a CTL process, somewhere, that "reduces the product costs by 12% compared to the single-stage H-Coal Process".
We earlier reported what we could of the Kentucky "H-Coal Process", and managed to find a little more on that coal conversion effort - in Greece, or Turkey. A separate report on that will follow.
In any case, like the Oklahoma research we earlier brought to your attention, herein we have yet more US Government-sponsored research being performed on the conversion of coal into the liquid fuels our nation needs, in a state that has no coal.
Again: What's up with that?
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We have thoroughly documented that a wide variety of liquid fuels, and commercially-valuable organic chemicals, can be directly and efficiently synthesized from coal. And, we are in the process of documenting for you that the Carbon Dioxide by-product of our coal-use industries can also be efficiently collected and recycled, into the same liquid fuels and valuable organic chemicals.
We have also documented that very useful, though somewhat intermediate products, methanol and dimethyl ether (DME), are generated from both coal and Carbon Dioxide conversion processes.
As we have reported, both methanol and DME are useful fuels in their own right, aside from being valuable precursors for plastics, and other, manufacture. We have also confirmed that commercial processes exist, such as ExxonMobil's MTG (r) technology, whereby methanol, once synthesized from coal, or CO2, can be further tweaked into the gasoline we all know and love.
Since, in future dispatches, we will be referencing additional technologies for producing both methanol and DME from both coal and CO2, we wanted to document, once again, that either of those coal conversion or carbon recycling liquid products can, indeed, be easily transformed into the gasoline we're all so desperate for.
Herein, from another of our domestic US institutions of higher learning, is confirmation of that fact:
Document title
Methanol-to-gasoline vs. DME-to-gasoline. II: Process comparison and analysisAuthors
SUNGGYU LEE ; GOGATE M. ; KULIK C. J. ;Affiliations
Univ. Akron, dep. chemical eng., process res. cent., Akron OH 44325-3906, ETATS-UNISAbstract
Methanol can be converted into gasoline boiling range hydrocarbons over zeolite ZSM-5 catalyst using the Mobil MTG process. Methanol feed in the MTG process can be derived from coal or natural gas based syngas. The Mobil MTG process involves the conversion steps of syngas-to-methanol and methanol-to-gasoline. Dimethyl Ether (DME), a product of methanol dehydrocondensation, is an intermediate species in the methanol-to-gasoline conversion. Syngas can be directly converted to DME using the Liquid Phase Dimethyl Ether Synthesis (LP-DME) process developed at the University of Akron in conjunction with Electric Power Research Institute. This direct one-step conversion of syngas-to-DME can then be an ideal front end for further conversion to gasoline. This substitution (syngas-to-methanol by syngas-to-DME) is justified because DME results in an identical hydrocarbon distribution over the ZSM-5 catalyst as methanol. The DME-to-Gasoline (DTG) process thus involves the conversion steps of syngas-to-DME and DME-to gasoline. The UA/EPRI DTG process offers advantages over the Mobil MTG process in several areas. These include heat duty and heat of reaction, adiabatic temperature rise, hydrocarbon product yield and selectivity, syngas conversion, and overall process efficiency. The conceptual benefits of the DTG process have been demonstrated experimentally in a fluidized bed reactor system operative at the University of Akron. The salient features of the DTG process and process comparison to the Mobil MTG process are discussed in this paper."Don't lose sight of the fact, in all the technical jargon, that "Methanol feed in the MTG process can be derived from coal", as can DME.
And, again, both methanol and DME can be converted into gasoline.
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The enclosed might seem unrelated to our core concern of converting coal into liquid fuels.
CoalTL in the broader sense, though, to us, means making the fullest use possible of the resources we have available. That economic concept is, in fact, the true essence of Thoreau's Walden Pond philosophy, from which, without genuine acknowledgement or understanding, our modern-day ecological movement has sprung.
In any case, liquid fuels can be made from coal "fines" - which are essentially coal "dust". It gets entrained in typical run-of-mine product, and, due to customer requirements, shipping constraints and processing limitations, is often separated from coal and, again depending on commercial circumstances, collected for shipment elsewhere. But, because of the expense required to achieve full cleaning and separation, and their limited commercial outlets, many coal fines are, or used to be, discarded along with mine refuse.
There might be better, profitable, ways to separate and capture coal fines, through the use of another "waste".
The excerpt:
"Fine Coal Recovery Utilizing Landfill-Derived Liquids
Hall S.T.; International Journal of Surface Mining Reclamation, March, 2002
Abstract:
Liquid effluents that arise in the landfilling of municipal solid wastes, both leachate and gas condensates, can replace some or all of the conventional coal flotation reagents. The waste management industry currently must treat these effluents, to destroy contained organics, prior to their discharge to the environment and hence they are available at no cost, or even with “dollars attached”. These landfill-derived liquids contain valuable short-chain fatty acids (e.g. valeric and caproic acids) that act as both frother and collector in flotation processes. They can be further concentrated by membrane filtration to reduce the transport costs of such liquids and the ease of their use in coal recovery systems. This paper will discuss how these liquids are formed in landfills, their typical compositions and how they can be employed to recover fine coal."
We'll follow up this submission with some other reports affirming that coal fines, once recovered using organic compounds, such as organic landfill "extract" and vegetable oils, can be employed in the manufacture of liquid fuels.
Accomplished coal-to-liquid conversion specialist Sasol has been using coal fines in South Africa for liquid fuel manufacture, but a US company is getting into that act, as well.
- Details
As we suspected, and as we suggested to you, some recent reports that the our US Air Force had backed away from it's commitment to develop, through the several university efforts we documented for you, a domestic aviation fuel supply infrastructure based on coal liquefaction are false; perhaps deliberate disinformation.
According to this very recent, very credible Aviation Week article, the Air Force is moving ahead, on schedule, to develop a domestic supply base of liquid fuel derived from coal.
Better: They are, as we have documented to be feasible and practical, developing complementary fuel conversion technologies that will work in concert with the coal-to-liquid conversion fuel supply base to, through biotechnology applications related, directly or indirectly, to coal conversion efforts, recycle Carbon Dioxide into additional liquid aviation fuel.
As follows:
"USAF Progresses On Alternative Fuels
Oct 5, 2009
| By Graham Warwick |
On track to certify its aircraft fleet to use synthetic Fisher-Tropsch (F-T) fuel by 2011, the U.S. Air Force has launched a similar certification effort for hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) biofuels and is now becoming interested in fuels from cellulosic feedstocks.
Despite the growing interest in biofuels, DESC (Defense Energy Support Center) has several pilot programs under way to produce synthetic JP-8 from coal and natural gas using the F-T process, Huntley (Kim Huntley, DESC commander) says. The Energy Department, meanwhile, has a $700 million program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal-to-liquid F-T fuel production though carbon capture and sequestration and the addition of biomass, aiming for demonstration by 2012 and deployment by 2020.
Under congressional mandate to buy greener fuels, the Air Force is putting the finishing touches to a greenhouse-gas life-cycle analysis model that will allow it to calculate the “well-to-wake” carbon footprint for each batch of fuel. Harrison (Bill Harrison, deputy director of the Air Force’s new Energy Office) says benchmark studies are under way for coal-and-biomass-to-liquid F-T jet fuel and soy to HRJ.
So: "Despite the growing interest in biofuels, DESC has several pilot programs under way to produce synthetic JP-8 from coal and natural gas using the F-T process, Huntley says."
And, note that, although they are working on the profoundly wasteful concept of "carbon capture and sequestration", they are also at work on the much more forward-thinking concept of Carbon Dioxide recycling via "hydrotreated renewable jet ... fuels from cellulosic feedstocks".
As we've documented via more than several authoritative citations, botanical cellulose can be processed, along with coal, in a coal-to-liquid production facility of appropriate design and specification, and thereby provide an inherent, integral route of Carbon Dioxide recycling for a coal-to-liquid conversion industry.
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