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The primary subjects of this dispatch are two, rather enormously complex, United States Patents issued just last year to scientists in the employ of our beloved oily behemoth, ExxonMobil.
The central object of both disclosed technologies, so closely related that we can't fathom the reason why two separate patents were issued, is the conversion of Methane into liquid hydrocarbons, primarily those that comprise the basic Gasoline blending stock often shorthanded as "BTX", i.e., Benzene, Toluene and Xylene.
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West Virginia can now start to think about helping Kentucky out in a big way, relative to the process we report in this dispatch, wherein a former oil industry player, still headquartered in Kentucky, is seen to have developed an innovative and non-polluting way in which Coal, Carbon Dioxide and Water can all be converted, together, into a blend of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen, i.e., a "synthesis gas" ideally suited for catalytic conversion, as via, for one example, the Fischer-Tropsch process, into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.
We won't dwell on the Fischer-Tropsch process, or the many variants of the technology which are all usually lumped generically together under that title. Suffice it to say that it is a method, using a wide variety of catalysts and operating conditions, of chemically condensing a blend of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen gases into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.
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The title of this United States Patent, assigned to Chevron, might at first seem misleading, since it highlights that, more than anything else, Carbon Monoxide is being produced.
However, from deep within the full Disclosure comes this explanation of what they're really making, through their technology for reacting plain old Garbage with Carbon Dioxide, as in:
"Synthesis gas, rich in carbon monoxide, is especially useful for the synthesis of methanol. It is also useful as a feed for a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for the production of hydrocarbons. Another use is the production of methane which can be directly burned as a fuel gas or the methane can be combined with light hydrocarbons for the production of enriched fuel gas."
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Process for the hydrogenation of coal
We've made numerous reports on the Coal gasification and liquefaction technologies developed by the former Texaco - - since, in 2001, absorbed by Chevron - - during the middle part of the prior century.
And, as in:
Texaco Converts Coal & Recycles CO2 - 50 Years Ago | Research & Development, concerning: "United States Patent 2,753,296 - Process for the Hydrogenation of Coal; 1956; Inventor: Frederick Sellers;
Assignee: Texaco Development Corporation; Abstract: This invention relates to a process for the hydrogenation of a solid carbonaceous material. The process of the present invention is particularly applicable to the treatment of coal and may be applied to hydrogenation of anthracite, bituminous coal or lignite. In one of the more specific aspects, this invention relates to an improved process for the liquid phase hydrogenation of coal. ... An object of this invention is to ... provide an improved process for the production of oil from coal";
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In our recent report: Conoco Hydrogenates More Carbon Monoxide | Research & Development, wherein is discussed primarily "US Patent 6,730, 708 - Fischer-Tropsch Processes and Catalysts Using Aluminum Borate; 2004; Assignee: ConocoPhillips Company, TX; A process ... for the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide ... to produce a variety of products ranging from methane to higher aliphatic hydrocarbons and/or alcohols"; we documented how Carbon Monoxide could be utilized as the primary raw material for, through reactions with Hydrogen, the synthesis of a wide range of higher hydrocarbons through an improved and more efficient version of the long-known Fischer-Tropsch process.
In that report, we also made brief reference to the technology which comprises one of our primary topics herein, through our inclusion of a separate link in that report to: "US Patent 4564513 - Process for the Production of Carbon Monoxide".
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