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We had earlier informed you that Exxon-Mobil, in their "MTG" (r) process, were converting Methanol, manufactured from coal, into Gasoline through the mediation of their "ZSM" zeolite catalyst. They are commercializing that technology, as we've documented, in China and, perhaps, New Zealand.
We have also documented for you that zeolites can be found, and "mined", in abundance, from coal ash accumulations.
We submit the enclosed in further support of that knowledge. Please understand, as we have earlier explained, that "hydrotreatment", as used herein, is somewhat synonymous with "hydrogenation". Hydrogen is being added to high-carbon coal products to effect their transmutation into liquid hydrocarbons. West Virginia University, in their "West Virginia Process" for coal conversion, as we understand it, uses the Hydrogen-donor solvent, Tetralin, to liquefy and "hydrogenate" coal into such synthetic "petroleum".
There are, though, as we've tediously repeated, numerous ways in which to skin the coal conversion cat, and thus make the United States self-sufficient in liquid fuels. Herein, as excerpted below, is even more information on how yet another coal use waste can be employed to help make that happen:
"Catalytic properties of high-silica zeolites in hydrotreatment of coal liquefaction products
Andrey A. Krichko, Anatoly S. Maloletnev, Olga A. Mazneva and Sergey G. Gagarin
Institute of Fossil Fuels, GSP-1, Leninsky Prospekt 29, Moscow 117 910, Russia
Abstract
Catalytic activities of high-silica zeolites of ZSM type and also bi-zeolite catalysts HY-ZSM and LaY-ZSM in the hydrotreatment of a wide fraction of liquefaction products from brown coal (328–698 K boiling range) were determined. All the zeolites were modified by Mo and also Pd, Co and Ni loading. It was shown that ZSM use provides an opportunity to hydrogenate nitrogen compounds selectively in the presence of sulfur compounds. Removal of phenols does not restrict the general hydrotreatment process. A considerable increase in activity was found on changing from ZSM to the bi-zeolite systems HY-ZSM and LaY-ZSM."
And, we must affirm yet again that Carbon Dioxide, as well, can be "hydrotreated", hydrogenated, as we have thoroughly documented, into additional hydrocarbon, fuel, liquids.
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Herein another piece of the coal conversion puzzle we discovered while clearing/consolidating our coal-to-liquid files.
If you'll recall, one route, as is being commercialized by Exxon-Mobil, to convert coal into gasoline involves first making methanol from coal, as is being accomplished, as we've documented, in various places around the world, including the US, and then converting the methanol, via zeolite catalysis, into gasoline.
Zeolites, as it happens, can be manufactured from coal ash.
Additional comment follows the excerpt:
"A two-step process for the synthesis of zeolites from coal fly ash
G. G. Hollman, G. Steenbruggen and M. Janssen-Jurkovic
Faculty of Earth Sciences, Department of Geochemistry, Utrecht University, PO Box 80021, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
Abstract
The conversion of fly ash into zeolites by incubation of the fly ash with alkaline solutions is a well known process which, however, usually results in a zeolitic product which still contains significant amounts of residual fly ash. Presented here is a method by which part of the silicon in fly ash can be used for the synthesis of a maximum of 85 g of pure zeolite per kg of fly ash prior to the residual being converted into zeolite by the traditional method. The cation exchange capacities ranged from 3.6 to 4.3 meq/g for the pure zeolites and from 2.0 to 2.5 meq/g for the zeolite containing residual fly ash. Tests showed that the pure zeolites are suitable for the removal of ammonium and heavy metal ions from waste water."
First, the article is just one example of the rather abundant literature available on the manufacture of zeolites from coal ash. It is, it seems, a well-known technology.
But, not only can fly ash provide the necessary zeolite catalyst to convert coal-derived methanol into gasoline via Exxon-Mobil's process, related zeolites from coal combustion residue can also help us clean up the Nitrogen ("ammonium") and heavy metals that might be produced in the waste streams of a coal conversion facility, or a coal-fired power plant using exhaust gas scrubbers.
It's just another example, Mike, of the fact that coal science is much further advanced than is popularly known, or even, perhaps, professionally realized. Many of the inherent problems, as in pollution issues, have been solved, while many of the great potentials, as in liquid fuel conversion, remain largely undeveloped.
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""More attention should be given to a variety of technologies such as those involving carbon sequestration and enhanced recovery methods for oil and gas", Manchin pointed out."
If you've followed our posts/correspondence, you know, or should know, that "carbon sequestration and enhanced recovery methods for oil and gas" are a waste of a potentially-valuable coal-use byproduct. They would be undertaken at great expense to the people who mine and use coal, in unthinking and obeisant support of the withering, but increasingly greedy and parasitic, grotesque vampire our oil industry, with all it's major players, has become.
Why don't you publicly reveal the truth of the matter, as you must by now, from our posts, know it; and, thus, give Governor Manchin a stake made of coal to ram through the vampire's heart, instead of a public forum from which he can, in misguided innocence, promote it's insidious, self-centered, delusional and damaging agenda?
During the last election cycle, you published a fanciful product entitled, as we recall, "Obama No Friend Of Coal".
Again: Given what you must, from our published research, by now know - - about the very real potential of established technologies that do exist to convert WV's abundant coal, and to recycle Carbon Dioxide, into the liquid transportation fuels our nation desperately needs - - and, given also your silence thus far on those issues, should you not now publish a cathartic mea culpa entitled "Myer No Friend Of Coal"?
Just wondering. But, you did get the title of our current subject right. It is way past time for us to "Focus on Practical US Energy Policy". It would be policy founded in coal conversion technology.
(PS. We are still researching the issue, but, aside from the fact that expensive and wasteful "sequestration" of CO2 is of unproven, even wildly speculative, effectiveness and permanence, the concept seems to be much younger and newer than the far more practical, Nobel-winning, Sabatier technology for actually recycling CO2 into valuable hydrocarbon fuels.)
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We might have sent you this reference in another format previously, but I couldn't find it in our files or on "Joe the Miner". We found it as we were clearing/consolidating our records, and Joe thought it to be of interest/importance and asked me to send it out. It is, he says, another demonstrated technology where coal combustion/liquefaction by-products, specifically CO2, can be reclaimed and recycled into more liquid fuels through biological/botanical agents.
More than that, he thinks the inventors are using, though they don't seem to name it, the same Hydrogen-donor solvent that WVU uses in the WV Process for coal liquefaction.
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| Inventor(s): |
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| Assignee: | Man-Oil Limited; (Manchester, GB) | ||||||||
| Agent: | Salter & Michaelson
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We want to continue emphasizing the extraordinary importance that the technology for converting both our abundant coal and coal's misunderstood shadow, Carbon Dioxide, into the versatile liquid fuel and gasoline precursor, Methanol, could have for the economies and the citizens of West Virginia and the United States.
The enclosed link leads to the web site of the "Institute For The Analysis Of Global Security".
We, honestly, have no idea who they are and cannot, through independent third parties, either elaborate on their identity, or confirm their bona fides.
However, the information they present on the industry and technology of Methanol production agrees in general, and in most specifics, with other summaries we've seen, and more information can be accessed via the link to Georgetown University included near the end of the excerpt, below:
(All emphases added.)
"Sources of Methanol
Today, methanol is produced in the U.S. for mostly nonfuel usage. There are eighteen U.S. methanol production plants, with a total annual capacity of over 2.6 billion gallons. Today most of the methanol in the U.S. is produced from natural gas. Shifting to methanol as our major transportation fuel requires greatly upping production. The biggest potential source of methanol in the U.S. is coal. (Oil can also be used to produce methanol, but this would defeat the purpose!) We've come a long way since the days when coal usage was synonymous with terrible pollution. These days plants using coal are among the cleanest power sources in the U.S. And plants using coal to produce methanol are the cleanest by far. By a simple reaction between coal and steam, a gas mixture called syn-gas (synthesis gas) is formed. The components of this mixture are carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which through an additional chemical reaction are converted to methanol.
A major powerplant in Tampa, Florida, built under the auspices of the Department of Energy, has proven the feasibility of converting coal to syn-gas on a very large scale. This process does not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Although the syn-gas in this plant is utilized as fuel for gas turbine electric generators, the same process can be taken a step further, by reacting the carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the syn-gas over a catalyst, to produce methanol on a large scale. Not only are the emissions of this syn-gas plant well below regulatory limits - it is one of the cleanest coal-based power plants in the world - but the sulfur content of the coal is utilized as raw material for fertilizer production, rather than being emitted to the atmosphere as a pollutant.
In Kingsport, Tennessee, a plant participating in the Department of Energy's Clean Coal Technology Program combines both processes, for clean mass production of methanol from coal at under $0.50 a gallon.
Today, methanol is produced in the U.S. for mostly nonfuel usage. There are eighteen U.S. methanol production plants, with a total annual capacity of over 2.6 billion gallons. Today most of the methanol in the U.S. is produced from natural gas. Shifting to methanol as our major transportation fuel requires greatly upping production. The biggest potential source of methanol in the U.S. is coal. (Oil can also be used to produce methanol, but this would defeat the purpose!) We've come a long way since the days when coal usage was synonymous with terrible pollution. These days plants using coal are among the cleanest power sources in the U.S. And plants using coal to produce methanol are the cleanest by far. By a simple reaction between coal and steam, a gas mixture called syn-gas (synthesis gas) is formed. The components of this mixture are carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which through an additional chemical reaction are converted to methanol.
A major powerplant in Tampa, Florida, built under the auspices of the Department of Energy, has proven the feasibility of converting coal to syn-gas on a very large scale. This process does not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Although the syn-gas in this plant is utilized as fuel for gas turbine electric generators, the same process can be taken a step further, by reacting the carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the syn-gas over a catalyst, to produce methanol on a large scale. Not only are the emissions of this syn-gas plant well below regulatory limits - it is one of the cleanest coal-based power plants in the world - but the sulfur content of the coal is utilized as raw material for fertilizer production, rather than being emitted to the atmosphere as a pollutant.
In Kingsport, Tennessee, a plant participating in the Department of Energy's Clean Coal Technology Program combines both processes, for clean mass production of methanol from coal at under $0.50 a gallon.
Biomass can be converted to syn-gas by a process called partial oxidation, and later converted to methanol. Biomass is organic material, such as urban wood wastes, primary mill residues, forest residues, agricultural residues, and dedicated energy crops (e.g. sugar cane and sugar beets,) that can be made into fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates 2.45 billion metric tons a year of biomass are available for U.S. fuel production. One ton can be converted to 186 gallons (721 liters) of methanol.
(Such practice would also, one must presume, offer the additional value of "Carbon Offsets".)
In the United States there are numerous unused nuclear reactors. These reactors could be brought into electricity production within a relatively short timeframe. The electrical energy produced by these reactors could be utilized to convert water into hydrogen by one of several processes. This hydrogen could be further reacted with carbon dioxide to produce methanol. It is time to openly and thoroughly examine the feasibility of using our built and unutilized nuclear infrastructure to produce hydrogen based fuels. While nuclear energy is feared by many, it is a greatly misunderstood resource. Nuclear power is utilized as a prime energy source in countries like France and Sweden. In the United States, where nuclear energy supplies about 20% of our electrical power, not one American has been killed in a nuclear accident involving radiation exposure. On the other hand, thousands of Americans have been killed as a result of our energy dependence, and the funds that our oil dependence funnels to terrorist sponsoring regimes.
In the United States there are numerous unused nuclear reactors. These reactors could be brought into electricity production within a relatively short timeframe. The electrical energy produced by these reactors could be utilized to convert water into hydrogen by one of several processes. This hydrogen could be further reacted with carbon dioxide to produce methanol. It is time to openly and thoroughly examine the feasibility of using our built and unutilized nuclear infrastructure to produce hydrogen based fuels. While nuclear energy is feared by many, it is a greatly misunderstood resource. Nuclear power is utilized as a prime energy source in countries like France and Sweden. In the United States, where nuclear energy supplies about 20% of our electrical power, not one American has been killed in a nuclear accident involving radiation exposure. On the other hand, thousands of Americans have been killed as a result of our energy dependence, and the funds that our oil dependence funnels to terrorist sponsoring regimes.
(Some interesting thoughts, but we're not fans of nuclear energy. The following might be, from our point of view, the better course to intensively develop, especially given West Virginia's wind and hydro power potential.)
Electricity can also be generated by solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy sources (while these resources supply a much smaller amount of energy than nuclear power and can't supplant our other energy sources, they are an important supplement we should fully utilize.) As just mentioned, electricity can be used to convert water into hydrogen, which is then reacted with carbon dioxide to form methanol.
More information:
Georgetown University Advanced Vehicle Development Program: An Investigation of the Feasibility of Coal-Based Methanol for Application in Transportation Fuel Cell Systems, April 2004 - Summary, Full report "
Electricity can also be generated by solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy sources (while these resources supply a much smaller amount of energy than nuclear power and can't supplant our other energy sources, they are an important supplement we should fully utilize.) As just mentioned, electricity can be used to convert water into hydrogen, which is then reacted with carbon dioxide to form methanol.
More information:
Georgetown University Advanced Vehicle Development Program: An Investigation of the Feasibility of Coal-Based Methanol for Application in Transportation Fuel Cell Systems, April 2004 - Summary, Full report "
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