We have previously reported on the old Union Carbide, now part of Dow Chemical, Coal hydrogenation and liquefaction plant that operated for a time in South Charleston, WV. And, we have previously cited one or two of the inventors named in this dispatch.
But, this submission will, hopefully, not prove directly repetitive of information we've earlier submitted.
In this United States Patent, we see that a team of four West Virginia scientists, and, through issuance of this patent, our US Government, confirm what we have been reporting from other sources:
Coal can be hydrogenated, to synthesize gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons, by interaction with Steam.
Comment follows excerpts from the enclosed link to:
"United States Patent 3,988,237 - Integrated Coal Hydrocarbonization and Gasification of Char
Date: October, 1976
Inventors: Hubert Davis, Charles Albright, et. al.; all of West Virginia
Assignee: Union Carbide Corporation, NY
Abstract: An integrated continuous process for the production of liquid and gaseous fuels wherein coal particles are hydrocarbonized with a hydrogen-rich gas supplied by a gasification process employing two separate and interconnected zones for combustion and gasification and wherein char produced by the hydrocarbonization of the coal particles provides the feed for the gasification zone.
Claims: (A) process employing two separate and interconnected fluid-bed reaction zones, a first zone for gasification and a second zone for combustion of char particles; wherein in said first zone, char particles are gasified with steam ... to produce modified char particles and a first hydrogen-rich gas product; wherein said second zone, said modified char particles from said first zone are burned with air at a temperature sufficient to produce tacky ash particles that accrete to larger ash particles; and wherein said larger ash particles from said second zone provide the heat required to effect the gasification reaction in said first zone by descending in said first zone and transferring their sensible heat to said char particles and said steam.
This invention relates to an integrated and continuous process for producing gaseous and liquid products from coal wherein hydrogen is reacted with coal in a fluid bed hydrocarbonization zone to form char, gaseous and liquid products and wherein the char formed is fed to a fluid-bed gasification zone to generate all the hydrogen-rich gas required for the reaction with coal in the hydrocarbonization zone.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for producing gaseous and liquid fuel products from coal in an efficient, economical and continuous manner. Another object of this invention is to provide unusual benefits by integrating a gasification process with a hydrocarbonization process. Still another object of this invention is to provide a process whereby a char by-product may be gasified at elevated pressures to generate the hydrogen necessary."
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The full exposition of the technology actually gives a pretty straightforward impression of what it's all about, but we find the inventors' phrasing impossible to adequately simplify.
In essence: They are producing hydrocarbons by reacting Coal with a Hydrogen-rich gas, which itself is generated by reacting the residue, the Char, left by that initial reaction between Coal and that Hydrogen-rich gas, with Steam.
Moreover, it seems, in confirmation of other, similar technologies we've brought to your attention, that all of the processes can be integrated, so that heat energy generated in some of the reactions can be transferred to help drive other reactions.
The real point is: In the capital of West Virginia, we had, at one time, a technology wherein we could produce "liquid and gaseous fuels" from nothing but Water and Coal.
