United States Patent: 4138224
We have previously documented, from several sources, that the carbonaceous residues left by some processes of indirect Coal conversion could be themselves further treated, by different techniques, so as to yield even more hydrocarbon values.
The example we most often refer to is the US Government-sponsored development, by FMC Corporation and ARCO, of the "COED" process at a New Jersey pilot plant. In that effort, carbonaceous residues left by their initial processing of Coal, via an indirect Coal conversion technique, were, as we've documented, shipped all the way to Spain for further treatment and extraction with the Hydrogen-donor solvent, Tetralin; in a process we perceive to be very similar to what we understand of WVU's "West Virginia Process" for the direct liquefaction of Coal.
In any case, we have also cited, and will cite further, the work of Consolidation Coal Company's accomplished Carbon conversion scientist, Everett Gorin.
Herein it's seen that, after Consol's merger with, or acquisition by, Continental Oil, Conoco; and, after Everett Gorin had left the Library, PA, Consol facility where he seemed to have spent much of his career, for the sunnier climes of California; Gorin continued their Coal conversion developments by demonstrating that any Carbonaceous residues resulting from direct Coal conversion processes, wherein Coal is first treated with a Hydrogen donor solvent, as in the West Virginia Process, could then be processed via indirect gasification technologies, to extract even more hydrocarbon values through the production of synthesis gas, or "syngas".
Comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 4,138,224 - Production of Fixed-Bed Gasifier Feedstock and Fuel from Coal
Date: February, 1979
Inventor: Everett Gorin, California
Assignee: Continental Oil Company, Connecticut
Abstract: A two-step process for the production of fixed bed gasifier feedstock from a coal liquefaction effluent slurry is provided which comprises (a) treating a coal liquefaction effluent slurry in a stirred vessel with a mixture of anti-solvent and coal-derived carbonaceous solids to form agglomerates in a pumpable slurry; and (b) converting the pumpable slurry to larger-size agglomerates or pellets by the addition of further coal-derived carbonaceous solids under pelletizing conditions.
Claims: In a coal liquefaction process which employs a liquefaction solvent wherein a product is recovered which contains a solution of coal liquefaction products in said liquefaction solvent, and finely divided undissolved solids suspended in said solution; and wherein a separation step is included for the separation of said suspended solids from said solution, which uses a precipitating solvent to effect agglomeration of said suspended solids, the improvement which comprises:
(a) mixing said product in an agglomeration zone in admixture with said precipitating solvent and an added amount of relatively coarse coal-derived carbonaceous solids, such that the amount of deposit precipitated by the precipitating solvent serves to bind together said suspended solids and said added amount of solids into agglomerates larger than said added solids;
(b) recovering a pumpable slurry of said enlarged agglomerates from said agglomeration zone;
(c) converting said pumpable slurry in a pelletization zone to pellets larger than said agglomerates produced in said agglomeration zone by the further addition of coal-derived carbonaceous solids under pelletizing conditions; and
(d) recovering enlarged pellets from said pelletization zone.
Description: This invention relates to an improvement in coal liquefaction processes, and, more particularly, to the production of pellets suitable for use as a fixed bed gasifier feedstock.
In particular, the invention relates to coal liquefaction processes wherein a solvent (hereinafter sometimes called "liquefaction solvent") is present during the liquefaction of the coal. Liquefaction may be achieved by hydrogenation, depolymerization, extraction, etc. The liquefaction solvent, which is generally coal-derived, may function as solvent for the coal or for the products or both. It may also play a reactive role, for instance, in the depolymerization and hydrogenation of the coal molecules. Liquefaction may also be achieved with or without the presence of a catalyst, and with or without the presence of molecular (gaseous) hydrogen, in addition to the liquefaction solvent. Such liquefaction processes may be used to make liquid and gaseous fuels, as well as low sulfur and non-caking feedstocks for fixed bed gasifiers.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved process for the conversion of coals to fuels; and in its preferred embodiment, to provide a solution to the problem of using the residue from solvent extraction of coal as a feedstock to gasifiers requiring essentially non-caking feedstocks.
Summary: The present invention is a two-step process for the production of fixed bed gasifier feedstock from a coal liquefaction effluent slurry."
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We submit that the true import of this invention might have been clearer had the Patent title been worded to read: "Production of Fuel and Fixed-Bed Gasfier Feedstock from Coal".
In any case, once the solid carbonaceous residue in such a direct "coal liquefaction effluent" is processed via Gorin's technique, and then gasified, the resulting gas can be used as fuel that might be needed for the initial Coal liquefaction process; or, we submit, such "syngas" could be catalyzed in a Fischer-Tropsch, or related, processor, and thus be condensed into additional liquid hydrocarbons as suitable for refinery feed stock as were the products of Germany's Coal indirect conversion synthetic fuel plants during WWII.
The technology for full utilization of our vast domestic Coal resources, to satisfy our need for now-imported liquid hydrocarbon fuels is all in place.
And, it has, as herein, all been in place for more than three decades.
Why haven't we United States citizens, especially those of us resident in US Coal Country, even been publicly informed that such technology exists, much less been allowed to benefit from it?