Coal Tech Related Info

 
 
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.