United States Patent: 4102775
We have submitted multiple reports documenting the development and practice of Coal hydrogenation and liquefaction technologies by the old Union Carbide Corporation, at a pilot plant in South Charleston, WV.
Much as other companies who developed similar innovative technology for the full employment of Coal, such as Pittsburgh's Gulf Oil, who was swallowed up by Chevron, were taken over by other companies not as interested in publicly promoting the full use of Coal; or, as with Exxon and Mobil, whose documented coincident interests in Coal conversion might have helped to inspire their merger, Union Carbide met a similar fate.
In early 2001, they were absorbed into, and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of, Dow Chemical.
But, as we have documented and as we will further document, just as Chevron continued to develop and refine Gulf Oil's Coal conversion technologies, Dow did the same with the Coal science it acquired along with Union Carbide.
Comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 4,102,775 - Conversion Process for Solid Hydrocarbonaceous Materials
Date: July, 1978
Inventors: George Quarderer and Norman Moll, MI
Assignee: The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI
Abstract: Solid, hydrocarbonaceous materials, such as coal, are converted to valuable liquid and gaseous products by an efficient process comprising: (1) preparing a slurry from slurry oil, a hydrogenation catalyst and the hydrocarbonaceous material; (2) hydrogenating the hydrocarbonaceous material to liquid and gaseous hydrogenation products, the liquid hydrogenation product containing suspended particles of ash and catalyst; (3) gravitationally separating the liquid hydrogenation product into a first stream and a second stream, the first stream having both a lower ash concentration than the liquid hydrogenation product and a greater catalyst:ash ratio than the second stream; (4) recycling at least a portion of the first stream for use as at least a portion of the slurry oil and thereby recycling at least a portion of the catalyst. This process is characterized by an economical, highly effective catalyst system, sequential gravitational and extractive solids separations for the generation and recycle of slurry oil, and low-ash fuel and chemical feedstock manufacture.
Claims: A process for the conversion of a solid, hydrocarbonaceous material to valuable liquid and gaseous products ... . (and) ... wherein the solid, hydrocarbonaceous material is coal.
Background: This invention relates to the conversion of a solid, hydrocarbonaceous material to valuable products. In one aspect, the invention relates to the liquefaction of coal while in another aspect it relates to the production of high-grade fuel and valuable chemical feedstocks. The art is replete with processes for converting solid, hydrocarbonaceous materials, such as coal, to mixtures of gaseous and liquid products.
Summary: According to this invention, solid, hydrocarbonaceous material is efficiently and conveniently converted to valuable gaseous and liquid products"
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