We've posted several reports on FMC Corporation's Government-sponsored New Jersey project, wherein they used their "COED" process to liquefy coal.
Herein, linked above, is a report from Atlantic Richfield - the ARCO we should all be familiar with - documenting that oils derived from coal via FMC's COED process can, as earlier documentation we've submitted attests, be refined into "standard" liquid fuel products via established petroleum refining technology.
Comment follows the excerpt:
"Hydrogenation of COED Coal Oils
Harry E. Jacobs; Atlantic Richfield Company, Harvey, Illinois
J. F. Jones and R. T. Eddinger; FMC Corporation, Princeton, New Jersey
Introduction
The Office of Coal Research, Department of the Interior, has sponsored several projects having as one of their objectives, the production of oil from coal. One of these, project COED, conducted by FMC Corporation, produces oil by low temperature pyrolysis of coal. The Atlantic Richfield company, which had been con-
ducting hydrogenation experiments on coal derived oils, was requested by the Office of Coal Research to hydrotreat some COED oils. Accordingly, the following work was carried out by ARC0 in cooperation with FMC.
ducting hydrogenation experiments on coal derived oils, was requested by the Office of Coal Research to hydrotreat some COED oils. Accordingly, the following work was carried out by ARC0 in cooperation with FMC.
Raw oils from the COED process have a low hydrogen content and high concentrations of oxygen, nitrogen, and sulf'ur. Hence, hydrotreating is required before the oils can be used in present day petroleum refining processes. In the COED process, the oil product is taken from the reactors as a vapor, leaving the residual ash and char to be withdrawn separately as a fluidized solid. Any entrained solids in the oil vapor are removed by cyclones and by filters. Consequently the COED oil, being virtually solids free, can be hydrotreated in fixed bed reactors.
The equipment used by the ARC0 laboratories is a typical bench scale high-temperature, high-pressure continuous unit of the type used in petroleum process research. The unit is shown schematically in Figure 1. The oil in a heated, gas blanketed charge tank is circulated by a low pressure, positive displacement pump. This serves to maintain a uniform mixture in the feed tank and to supply a positive pressure at the suction of the high pressure feed pump. The oil is combined with hydrogen and preheated before passing downflow through the 1b inch catalyst bed. The product is cooled and separated into gas and liquid fractions for sampling and analysis.
The double pumping system reduced the problem of interruption of flow. COED oil, being a pyrolysis product, can form polymers and coke at temperatures above 600'F. This is not a problem as long as liquid flow is maintained. However, if the flow is interrupted, the oil does not drain from the reactor fast enough to avoid
coking.
coking.
The catalyst used is commercially available HDS-3A manufactured by American Cyanamid. It (contains) NiO and ... MoO3 on alumina."
Note the needed catalysts used herein by ARCO are commercially available, and consist of Nickel and Molybdenum compounds supported on alumina; all, as previously documented from other sources, known to be effective in the refining of coal-derived liquids.
We'll not include the tables, or lengthy technical dissertations, in this excerpt. However, the three coals used were examples from Utah, Illinois and the Pittsburgh seams. The detailed processing and analyses described by ARCO documents that the techniques required for refining coal oils are well-understood and, in fact, don't differ much from established petroleum refining processes.
As we have documented previously, coal liquids produced by at least some established coal liquefaction technologies can be refined into standard liquid fuel products through the existing petroleum refining industrial infrastructure.
That is affirmed in ARCO's conclusion about the processing of these three coal-derived oils:
"Conclusion
In summary ...The product oils ... can be processed by conventional petroleum refining methods."
In other words, as this petroleum major confirms: We can make oil from coal, and we can refine that coal oil into standard, commercial liquid fuel products using petroleum refineries already in place.
Again, this work by ARCO follows the FMC coal liquefaction project that was, as we've earlier documented, funded, at least in part, by the US Department of the Interior.
In other words: The Petroleum Industry and our Federal Government know that our abundant coal can be converted on a practical basis into the liquid fuels, and petrochemicals, we grow increasingly short of.
Why haven't we the people, most especially we the people of US Coal Country, been so informed?