Pittsburgh's old Gulf Oil, long since absorbed into the Chevron collective, had, as we've been documenting, devoted themselves, along with their Pittsburg, Kansas, P&M Mining subsidiary, to developing an extensive and impressive array of Coal conversion technologies, that, had they ever seen the light of day, would have enabled the energy-efficient conversion of Coal into a range of liquid and gaseous fuels and chemicals.
Herein we present an interesting, and very complicated, example of the Coal conversion technologies this Coal Country petroleum company managed to develop before being assimilated into Big Oil.
The full patent disclosure, as available through the link, is lengthy and very complicated, and beyond our ability to reduce into a full and truly comprehensive synopsis.
Moreover, the patent's title confuses the true issue, which is, as we will illustrate via very minimal excerpts from the full text, with explanatory comment appended, that Coal can be converted into liquid fuels in a process that, if desired, can all be powered entirely by the Coal, and intermediate products derived from that Coal, which serves as the raw material from which liquid and gaseous fuels are to be synthesized.
As follows:
"United States Patent 4,227,991 - Coal Liquefaction Process with a Plurality of Feed Coals
Date: October, 1980
Inventors: Norman Carr, PA, and Bruce Schmid, CO
Assignee: Gulf Oil Corporation, Pittsburgh
Abstract: In a coal liquefaction process including recycle to the liquefaction zone ... the catalytic advantage of recycle solids is increased ... .
Claims: A coal liquefaction process ... comprising at least two feed coals, recycle normally solid dissolved coal containing liquid solvent, and recycle mineral residue derived from said feed coals; one of said feed coals ... generating upon dissolution particles of mineral residue ... ; passing said feed coals, hydrogen, recycle normally solid dissolved coal, recycle liquid solvent and recycle mineral residue to a coal liquefaction zone ... and to hydrocrack said hydrocarbonaceous material to produce a mixture comprising hydrocarbon gases, dissolved liquid, normally solid dissolved coal and suspended mineral residue; passing a liquefaction zone effluent stream through vapor-liqud separator means to remove overhead hydrogen, hydrocarbon gases and naphtha ... .
Description: Process efficiency is improved if the amount of synthesis gas produced in (the specified) gasifier ... is sufficient not only to supply all the molecular hydrogen required by the process but also to supply, without a methanation or other conversion step, between 5 and 100 percent of the total heat and energy requirement of the process.
The synthesis gas can be similarly used at any other point of the processing requiring fuel. If the synthesis gas does not supply all of the fuel required for the process, the remainder of the fuel and the energy required in the process can be supplied from any non-premium fuel stream prepared directly within the liquefaction zone. If it is more economic, some or all of the energy for the process, which is not derived from synthesis gas, can be derived from a source outside of the process, not shown, such as from electric power."
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In other words: All of the energy, up to "100 percent", and "all the molecular hydrogen" required to convert Coal into "hydrocarbon gases and naptha", which can then be processed into liquid fuels, can be generated and created as integral steps within the total Coal conversion process, with water, aside from catalysts, being the only possible other raw material needed.
Otherwise, if we would rather, we can use "electric power" to meet the energy requirements - if we have any of that to spare in US Coal Country.
Moreover, all of the "liquid solvent" referred to in the disclosure, as a close reading reveals, is, essentially, just the primary liquid derived from Coal, i.e., Coal tar or Coal oil, the use of which, as a Hydrogen-donor in Coal liquefaction processes, we have, from other sources, previously documented.
In any case, the sum is that Pittsburgh, PA's Gulf Oil invented a way to manufacture liquid and gaseous fuels from Coal, wherein all the energy required to perform that manufacture could be obtained from Coal.