As we have earlier documented, the residues of some coal liquefaction processes retain a significant carbon content. And, again as previously documented, the remaining carbon can be recovered from those residues for further processing into additional liquid hydrocarbons.
What we find most interesting about the enclosed document attesting to those facts is that the work was performed by Germany - who, from their extensive WWII synthetic fuel experience, should know a few things about liquefying coal - in two existing coal conversion facilities which. like the operational CTL facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, no one, at least no one willing to do something with the information, seems to have heard anything about, have been liquefying coal for more than two decades.
But, Germany, in these experiments, used a United States technology developed by Texaco, about which we've reported, to extract hydrocarbon values from already-processed coal liquefaction residues.
The excerpt:
"Title: Gasification of hydrogenation residues using the Texaco coal gasification process.
Author: Cornils, B.: Hibble, J.; Ruprecht, P.; Langhoff, J.: Duerrfeld, R.
Journal: Fuel Process Technology (Netherlands) Journal Volume 9:3. December, 1984
Abstract:
Since early 1978 the two West German companies Ruhrchemie AG and Ruhrkohle AG have been operating a Texaco coal gasifier on the premises of Ruhrchemie at Oberhausen, West Germany. The gasifier is a pressurised entrained slagging gasifier working at a pressure of 40 bar and at temperatures between 1200 and 1600 C. The aim of a second experimental program is to adapt the existing coal gasification facility to the conversion of liquefaction residues and to demonstrate the generation of syngas from liquefaction bottoms on a semi-commercial scale. This feedstock is a high-melting material which can be fed to the gasifier either as a solid or in a molten form. The application of solid feedstock resembles that of coal and requires the equipment necessary to prepare an aqueous suspension, the characteristic feed material for a Texaco gasifier. It has already been tested extensively using the residues from two different coal hydrogenation processes. The feeding of molten residue requires a special feed system which in principle resembles that of a heavy residual oil gasifier adapted to the higher melting temperatures of the feedstock and the handling of high amounts of ash. The system is operating in close cooperation with Ruhrkohle/VEBA's coal-oil plant at Bottrop, West Germany, near Oberhausen. It consists of road transportation of the molten residue from Bottrop to Oberhausen, storage and feeding to the gasifier. The equipment necessary was built and commissioned in December 1983. In an initial three weeks uninterrupted test run it operated in a decidedly steady manner with a high degree of reliability and without any trouble of note. Due to the high reactivity of the feedstock and the low temperature at which the gasifier operated, excellent performance data have been recorded. 9 references."
Even though this was published in the Netherlands, we won't speculate on what connections there might have been between this research and semi-Dutch South Africa's coal liquefying giant, Sasol.
But, as we've pointed out in other of our reports, note the "coal-to-liquid as a matter of known fact" tone of the statement: "the characteristic feed material for a Texaco gasifier".
Did, or does, anyone in US Coal Country know there was such a thing as a "Texaco gasifier" which can use a "characteristic feed", i.e., COAL, "with a high degree of reliability and without any trouble of note" to produce liquid fuel raw materials?