Patent US3375175
We have reported to quite some extent on the US Government-sponsored development of the "COED" technology for Coal-to-liquid conversion, by the FMC corporation, with the participation of ARCO, at a pilot plant in New Jersey.
As we indicated in our most previous dispatch on that topic, development of the COED Coal liquefaction process resulted in issuance of a United States Patent for that process to FMC.
Via the enclosed link and attached file, we present, with comment appended, very brief excerpts from:
"Pyrolysis of Coal - United States Patent 3,375,175
Date: May 26, 1978
Inventor: Ralph Eddinger, et. al.
Assignee: FMC Corporation, NY
Abstract: Increased yields of oils and tars are obtained from the pyrolysis of coal by conducting the pyrolysis in at least three fluidized stages ... .
This invention resulted from work done under contract with the Office of Coal Research in the Department of the Interior ... .
This invention is concerned with the pyrolysis of coal and it's principal aim is to ... insure the production of maximum amounts of liquid hydrocarbonaceous products from the coal."
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As revealed in the body of the patent, and as we have earlier documented in our reports of the COED project, this FMC process was not all that efficient in producing "oils and tars" from Coal.
However, we remind you that, as we have several times documented, the still-carbonaceous residues from the COED Coal conversion technique can themselves be further processed to yield even more hydrocarbon liquids. Such is confirmed by our several reports, available in the WV Coal Association R&D archives, of COED process residues being shipped to Spain for conversion into additional liquid hydrocarbons, via a direct liquefaction process, at yet another pilot plant there.
It might well be that the COED process represents a relatively inexpensive way to extract a "first cut" of hydrocarbon liquids from Coal; and, that such COED processing might result in the carbonaceous residues being so effected as to make them far more amenable, through thermal expansion and increased porosity, to further conversion into liquid hydrocarbons through the agency of a liquid Hydrogen donor solvent; as, from the reports, we believe was the case at the Spanish facility to which the COED residues were shipped.
In any case, FMC thought the technology disclosed herein, for the conversion of Coal into hydrocarbon liquids, of enough utility and value to apply for a patent on it.
And, our US Government, as embodied in the US Patent Office, acknowledged the reality of that utility and value by awarding the patent.
We, all of us, need to acknowledge the simple reality and utility of the potential to convert our abundant Coal into the liquid hydrocarbon fuels we need; and, then, simply, get on with doing it.