We present the enclosed and attached from a surprising Friend of Coal, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for a couple of reasons.
First, we have lately been documenting the "Tri-reforming Process", as described by Penn State University, and others, as a technology which can productively recycle the Carbon Dioxide byproduct of our coal-use industries into valuable fuels and chemicals.
Penn State's technology specifies the use of Methane as a co-reactant with Carbon Dioxide, and we wanted to again document that, although Methane can be synthesized from Carbon Dioxide via Sabatier-type processes, it can also be generated from coal.
Although anyone who has spent any time in coal country should know that fact almost intuitively, we feel compelled to document, authoritatively, each and every of our assertions, since the science of coal conversion seems to have many, some surprising, opponents and detractors.
We note, as well, and will, in future dispatches, further document, that, once Methane, or "Synthetic Natural Gas", is produced from coal, not only can it serve as a reactant for Carbon Dioxide to make useful organic products in the Tri-reforming Process, it, too, can be directly converted into liquid fuels and organic chemical manufacturing raw materials; most especially Methanol, which itself is a valuable liquid fuel and can be further catalyzed, as we have tediously documented, into gasoline.
In any case, some excerpts from the attached and enclosed, with comment interspersed and following:
"Thermodynamic Analysis of Coal to Synthetic Natural Gas Process
Lei Chen, Rane Nolan, Shakeel Avadhany
Supervisor: Professor Ahmed F. Ghoniem
Mechanical Engineering, MIT and Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 3-335
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 3-335
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
Submitted: May 11th, 2009
Abstract Natural gas is a clean energy source of the fossil fuels that dominates today’s energy supply. The Coal-to-Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) concept has been successfully demonstrated as a feasible energy production concept. As a final report for term project of Fundamentals of Advanced Energy Conversion, the scope of this research includes a state-of-the-art technologies review for Coal-to-SNG, the thermodynamic parametric study of main components in this process, and the efficiency assessment of the overall energy system implementing different gasification technologies, as well as the novel hydromethanation process. ... Hydromethanation is a promising novel route with about 70% energy efficiency; however it is still under development because of the technique challenges on catalysts."
(In the available literature, "challenges on catalysts" in coal conversion processes are frequently noted; primary among those challenges being carbon deposition. Without citation, we submit that catalyst reactivation techniques have been developed. Catalyst deactivation seems to be a known and quite solvable problem. - )
"According to the United States Department of Energy, 90% of all new baseload power plants will be fueled by natural gas. The sudden increase in demand for natural gas will make its price point skyrocket. This presents an opportunity for novel ways to introduce supply into the market. One of these novel ways includes the conversion of coal, an abundant fossil fuel resource in the U.S., to SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas). SNG can be produced from coal, petroleum coke, biomass, or solid waste. The carbon containing mass is gasified and then converted to methane, a large component of natural gas."
(That categorical statement, "coal ... is gasified and then converted to methane", is all we really need to document from this MIT report, for the purpose of supporting our thesis that the Methane needed for Carbon Dioxide recycling can be obtained from coal. But, as we will further document in future correspondence, not only can the methane extracted from coal be used to reform CO2 into liquid fuels, it can itself be directly catalyzed into liquids, including Methanol, which, aside from being a valuable liquid fuel in it's own right, is an extraordinarily versatile raw material for the manufacture of gasoline and plastics.)
"From a national security standpoint, SNG presents a means to alleviate the reliance on imported energy resources by making the most of an abundant American resource. SNG could be liquefied and transported throughout the U.S. via existing pipeline infrastructure already in-place."
(That "abundant American resource" would, of course, be coal.)
"A Coal-to-SNG system converts solid hydrocarbons such as coal, biomass or petroleum coke into SNG. A conventional approach for Coal-to-SNG is by a process of gasification, gas shift, and methanation. This “indirect” approach has been demonstrated in the Great Plains Synfuel Plant for 20 years and proven to be successful in application. More recently, advancements have been made on the “direct” gasification approach by the Great Point Energy. This mechanism involves hydromethanation and circumvents the
processes of gasification and water gas shift.
processes of gasification and water gas shift.
The hydromethanation, or catalytic steam gasificaiton technology, is considered to be more energy-efficient than the traditional methanation processes. This process was initially developed by Exxon in the 1970s using potassium carbonate (K2CO3) as a catalyst. However the process is still under development and not commercialized."
(Exxon! Yet again! But, why is their "more energy-efficient" "hydromethanation" process for coal gasification not, apparently, being reduced to practice, except, perhaps, in China?)
"Hydromethanation (Catalytic steam gasification) - The direct method of Coal-to-SNG is a process that performs the same function as the indirect method, except eliminates three of the six steps. With less steps of energy conversion, there is an increase in end-to-end efficiency of producing SNG from the coal. ... In this process, gasification and methanation occur in the same reactor in the presence of a catalyst. Steam is the only gasification agent used so that gas shift and methanation steps are no longer necessary."
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Note that we have many times documented the use of steam, as above, as an agent that can help to effect the "methanation" of both Coal and CO2. Herein, it seems that steam serves to eliminate other, costly, steps in the conversion process.
MIT's report continues with many calculations, illustrations, chemical descriptions and references that are far beyond our scope, and our limited grasp.
However, we can close with one clear quote:
"Traditional coal-to-SNG process has been demonstrated to be feasible in synthetic fuel production."
If we want to obtain Methane from Coal, for the Tri-reforming of Carbon Dioxide, we can do so. And, as we will further document, if we do extract Methane from Coal, we can as well directly convert that Methane into liquid fuels compatible with our current transportation infrastructure.