ScienceDirect - Fuel Processing Technology : Integrated coal pyrolysis with CO2 reforming of methane over Ni/MgO catalyst for.
We've many times documented China's coal conversion achievements, even to pointing out, a long time ago now, that they seem to have filed for International Patent rights to a coal liquefaction technology we interpret, based on our limited knowledge, as being almost exactly the same as WVU's "West Virginia Process" for the direct liquefaction of Coal using the hydrogen-donor solvent, tetralin.
In any case, China has now, as we have suggested, and documented from other sources, to be possible, developed a technology wherein, as we interpret it, Methane-rich gases generated by the controlled pyrolysis of Coal, are reformed with added Carbon Dioxide to generate "tar", and other products.
The excerpt, with our attempt at explanation following:
"Integrated coal pyrolysis with CO2 reforming of methane over Ni/MgO catalyst for improving tar yield
Jiahe Liu, Haoquan Hu, Lijun Jin, Pengfei Wang and Shengwei Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Institute of Coal Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, 129 street, Dalian 116012, PR China
May 2009
Abstract: A new process to integrate coal pyrolysis with CO2 reforming of methane ... was put forward for improving tar yield. And several Chinese coals were used to confirm the validity of the process. ... The results indicated that higher tar yield can be obtained in the pyrolysis (of coal) when coal pyrolysis was integrated with CO2 reforming of methane. ... The tar yield is 1.6 and 1.8 times as that in coal pyrolysis under H2 and N2, respectively."
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In other words, as we interpret this: Methane was generated by the pyrolysis of coal and was concurrently or simultaneously reformed with added CO2. That produced 1.6 to 1.8 times as much tar, for use in further refining into liquid hydrocarbon products, as would have coal pyrolysis conducted under Hydrogen or Nitrogen, without the addition of CO2.
And, as we have documented in several earlier reports, multiple, and US-patented, technologies exist for the refining of Coal-derived tars into conventional liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
The information herein is sparse, and we present it only because it seems to concur with other reports we've made, documenting that Methane and Carbon Dioxide can be reacted together to form useful hydrocarbons, and that the Methane needed for such reformation of Carbon Dioxide can itself be synthesized through processes of coal gasification.
