Mike,
We've been attempting to uncover some technical details about Japan's "NEDOL" process for the liquefaction of coal. There isn't much yet revealed by the public literature except, like West Virginia University's "West Virginia Process" for coal conversion, it is a "direct" liquefaction technology, as opposed to "indirect' coal-to-liquid conversion processes, such as Fischer-Tropsch.
One important point to make note of regarding this submission is that, like the United States, Japan had/has at least one coal-to-liquid conversion plant, even though "just" a pilot, in operation after WWII, when their coal-to-liquid fuel conversion plant at Kobe, because of it's value, became, as we've documented from US military records, a strategic target of Allied bombing attacks.
The excerpt:
Document title
Steady-state thermal behavior of coal liquefaction reactors based on NEDOL processAuthor(s)
ONOZAKI M.; NAMIKI Y. ; ISHIBASHI H.; TAKAGI T.; KOBAYASHI M.; MOROOKA S.Affiliation(s)
Nippon Coal Oil Co., Ltd., KS Bldg 2, Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0075, JAPONDepartment of Materials Physics and Chemistry, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, JAPON
Abstract
The direct coal liquefaction plant at Kashima, Japan, was equipped with three reactors, each of which was 1 m in diameter and 11.8 m in length, connected in series. This plant was designed on the basis of the concept of the NEDOL Process, and processed 150 tons of coal per day. The steady-state behavior of the reactors was simulated using an axial dispersion model which took into consideration the liquefaction reactions and the evaporation of oil to the gas phase. The model was validated from axial temperature profiles as well as coal conversion and hydrogen consumption data, obtained from the actual operation of the reactors. The heat of reaction, estimated from the heat balance between the inlet and outlet streams in each reactor, was determined to be 2.1 MJ per 1 m3 (STP) of hydrogen consumed. The axial dispersion coefficient of the slurry phase was estimated to be 0.03-0.04 m2/s at a superficial gas velocity of 0.06 m/s. The axial dispersion coefficient was smaller and the gas holdup was larger than values reported in previous studies."As with some of the US CTL projects we've documented, quite serious, very focused and detailed research into the coal conversion process was going on at Kashima. What has happened to all the data? What were the conclusions? What else is planned?