The length of this dispatch might be warranted, if anyone is truly interested in following up on the genuine potentials presented by coal, as a source of raw material from which we can synthesize both liquid fuels and industrial organic chemicals.
We have, in earlier posts, mentioned the Pittsburgh company, Koppers, as having coal gasification technology that can be employed in conversion processes targeted on the production of liquid fuels.
In fact, in an earlier report, we disclosed that coal liquefaction residues from FMC's New Jersey COED plant had been sent to Spain for further processing to extract even more carbon values for further conversion.
According to other sources, that Spanish facility used a Koppers coal gasification unit to process those coal liquefaction residues.
Moreover, in multiple reports, we documented that coke oven by-products, coal tars, could be harvested and converted into liquid fuels, and commercially valuable organic chemicals.
Coal tars, their extraction and use, are a specialty of Koppers, as the following excerpt from the link above reveals:
"The corporation is divided into two divisions: Carbon and Chemicals, and Railroad and Utility. The company specialises in manufacturing carbon chemicals from coal tar. The five main chemicals that are produced are coal pitch for steel and aluminum production, carbon black for rubber vulcanization, creosote for wood treatment, and naphthalene and phthalic anhydride for plastics and polyester."
Without citation, we submit that it has been documented that much of China's planned, and extensive, coal liquefaction industry is to be targeted on the production, specifically, of plastics manufacturing raw materials, including, and especially, napthalene.
Koppers, in fact, has a long history of manufacturing "substitute" organic chemical products from coal, as in the following excerpts:
"In 1943, Koppers, at the US Government's behest, built a factory in Kobuta, Pennsylvania ... to manufacture styrene-butadiene monomer ... used to make a form of synthetic rubber" from coal.
"In 1951, ... the company built a plant to manufacture the chemical monomer ethylbenzene, using as raw materials ethylene from the nearby Gulf Oil refinery, and benzene, which was a byproduct of the company's coke ovens ... ." Further processing resulted in "styrene monomer" which was "then polymerized to make expandable polystyrene."
"Koppers operates facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, China, South Africa. Koppers sources coal tar from around the world for further processing by distillation into carbon chemicals. The Company owns its own coke oven battery in Monessen, Pennsylvania. The Monessen facility operates 57 ovens with a combined annual capacity of over 360,000 tons of coke. The company further operates coke ovens in Tangshan, People's Republic of China, and has co-located facilities near the operations of major steel makers."
Koppers' expertise in coal extraction technologies was recognized quite some time ago by both the United States Government, and some major petroleum producers, when Koppers was selected to participate in, and provide expertise for, a little-known US Government-sponsored coal-to-liquid conversion project; one which we some time ago, in a brief dispatch, documented for you as having been established at Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was another of the "Solvent Refined Coal" developments, and did involve petroleum industry participants, as documented in:
"Title: SRC-1 Quarterly technical report, April-June 1980; (Though, strangely, reported as being published in January of 1980.)
Report Numbers: OSTI ID: 6753958; DOE/OR/03054-T2; DOE Contract Number: AC05-780R03054
Research Organization: International Coal Refining Co., Allentown, PA ("International" because Shell Oil was a participant, with Koppers.)
Abstract: The SRC-1 quarterly report has chapters on: an evaluation of current technologies for deashing coal liquids; domestic vendors of thick-wall pressure vessels; a comparative evaluation of GKT, Texaco and Shell-Koppers gasification processes (GKT is a modification of Koppers-Totzek and is recommended for reasons given); disposal or gasification of residues; evaluation of one or two slurry feed tanks; evaluation of one or two critical solvent deashing trains; analysis of causes of corrosion in the fractionating tower (chlorides and phenols); identifying and planning for pollution control in the demonstration plant; and characterizing waste center and monitoring its treatment. 236 Pages."
Note the size of this quarterly report.
In any case, that government-sponsored research likely helped in the development of the Koppers-Totzek coal gasification technology, which has many applications for the production of synthetic liquid fuels and organic chemicals, as evidenced by the following:
"ECONOMICS OF THE KOPPERS K-T GASIFICATION PROCESS FOR SYNTHETIC GAS AND CHEMICAL MANUFACTURE
John F. Kamody and J. Frank Cannon
Koppers Company, Inc.
Engineering and Construction Group
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
The commercially proven Koppers K-T gasification process is employed for the gasification of coal and other carbonaceous fuels to produce a carbon monoxide and hydrogen rich gas (i.e., "syngas").
Since 1952 a total of 39 gasifiers have been installed at 13 locations in the Eastern Hemisphere. (what about the Western Hemisphere?) An additional plant at Talcher, India, is scheduled for start-up (in) 1978. The latest commissioned plant, in ... South Africa, produces ... Methanol ... (and) Ammonia."
And, very significant:
"Unlike natural gas, hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratios of 1:1 are readily obtainable without the need for (added) hydrogen or importation of carbon dioxide. This feature can make the K-T (coal) process more practically suited than natural gas for ... methanol production, or Fischer-Tropsch technology."
Fischer-Tropsch technology, as you know, is one way to make liquid fuels from coal.
And, if you produce methanol, you can, as has been more than thoroughly documented, convert it into gasoline, as per the ExxonMobil "MTG"(r) technology..
"An additional major advantage to the process is its ability to handle a variety of feed stocks, including all ranks of coal"
And other carbonaceous, and carbon-recycling materials, one supposes.
Koppers' work at Allentown, PA, did lead to a commercial coal conversion technology, in addition to the Koppers-Totzek process: The "Shell-Koppers Coal Gasification Process", presumably in support of Sasol, in South Africa. As evidenced, following:
Title: Development of the Shell-Koppers coal gasification process
Authors: Vogt, E.V.; van der Burgt, M.J.
Affiliation: Shell Internationale Petroleum, The Hague, Netherlands
Publication: Royal Society Philosophical Transactions, Series A, vol. 300, no. 1453, Mar. 20, 1981
Abstract: The Shell-Koppers process for the gasification of coal under pressure is based on the principles of entrained-bed technology. It is characterized by practically complete gasification of virtually all solid fuels, production of a clean gas without by-products, high throughput, high thermal efficiency, efficient heat recovery, and environmental acceptability. The gas produced is 93 to 98 vol % hydrogen and carbon monoxide and is suitable for the manufacture of hydrogen or reducing gas, and, with further processing, substitute natural gas. It can also be used for the synthesis of ammonia, methanol, and liquid hydrocarbons. The process can be applied as an integral part of a combined-cycle power station featuring both gas and steam turbines, which will yield electricity generation at 42 to 45% efficiency for a wide range of feed coals. A 150 t/day gasifier has been put into operation successfully at Harburg, Germany, achieving a conversion of 99% for hard coal, and units of a capacity up to 2500 t/day are planned for the end of the 1980s."
Note: "Gas produced" from coal "is suitable for the manufacture of ... substitute natural gas" and "can also be used for the synthesis of ... methanol, and liquid hydrocarbons."
