United States Patent: 4364818
We have made several reports documenting what appears to have been the US Government-sponsored development of Coal liquefaction technologies by the former Gulf Oil Corporation, once headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.
We have also made note of the participation, in those development efforts, of Gulf's Coal-mining subsidiary, the Pittsburg(KS) & Midway, or, just "P&M", Mining Company.
Herein, we see that P&M, absent direct participation by Gulf's Pennsylvania scientists, was awarded yet another United States Patent for coal-to-liquid conversion technology, arising from yet another research effort sponsored by the United States Government; sponsored by us, in other words.
As a foreword, note this passage excerpted from the main body of text:
"The Government of the United States of America has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC01-19ET14800, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy to The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co., a subsidiary of Gulf Oil Corporation."
Also, the Coal liquefaction technology disclosed herein relates to phenomena already observed and recorded, as we have earlier reported to the Coal Association, by other researchers in the field.
Explanatory comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 4,364,818 - Pyrite Addition in Coal Liquefaction Process
Date: December, 1982
Inventors: Bruce Schmid and James Junkin, CO
Assignee: The Pittsburg and Midway Mining Company, CO
Abstract: Pyrite addition to a coal liquefaction process is controlled in inverse proportion to the calcium content of the feed coal to maximize the C5 ... liquid yield per unit weight of pyrite added. The pyrite addition is controlled in this manner so as to minimize the amount of pyrite used and thus reduce pyrite contribution to the slurry pumping load and disposal problems connected with pyrite produced slag.
Government Interests: The Government of the United States of America has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC01-19ET14800, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy to The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co., a subsidiary of Gulf Oil Corporation.
Claims: A coal liquefaction process for increasing the amount of liquid product ... which comprises passing hydrogen and a feed slurry comprising a high calcium feed coal and a distillate solvent to a coal liquefaction zone, and adding pyrite to said feed slurry in inverse proportion to the calcium content of said feed coal.
Summary: It has now been discovered that the effectiveness of pyrite as a catalyst for improving the yield of liquid product ... in a coal liquefaction process is in direct proportion to the amount of calcium present in the feed coal. Surprisingly, it has been found that so-called "high calcium-containing coals" are much more amenable to conversion to distillate liquid in the presence of pyrite than are "low calcium-containing coals"."
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We close our excerpts here to emphasize that they were very specifically working to improve the liquefaction of "high-calcium containing coals", which implies that the Coal they were using was mined from Coal deposits so intimately intermingled with thin beds of limestone that the two couldn't be efficiently separated. Such run-of-mine mine product might well have been rejected as mine waste in Appalachia in past years, since use of it would have fouled steel smelters and otherwise generated too much slag and cinder.
This is, in other words, and as in other references we have, and will further, cite, a technology developed to fully utilize what might otherwise be unused, low-grade Coal resources by converting them into more versatile liquid fuels.
Moreover, the effectiveness of Pyrite, Iron Sulfide, as a Coal liquefaction catalyst is unsurprising. If you have followed our posts, you will know that Iron and Sulfur have both, separately, been found to help catalyze and enhance Coal liquefaction processes; although Sulfur does tend to poison some other Coal hydrogenation catalysts, which has been a problem previously noted and, as we've documented, dealt with.
In any case, herein its seen that our United States Government, three decades ago, paid, with our tax dollars, the subsidiary of a major Oil company to develop an improvement on the technology to convert Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
