We open this dispatch with a statement excerpted from the US Patent, as linked above, which was issued, fully one quarter of a century ago, to Mobil Oil Corporation:
"It is recognized that the coal products may furnish a substitute for petroleum-based fuels and for petroleum-based feedstocks for the chemical industry."
They don't, however, say by who, or where, such a fact was, back in 1984, recognized.
Apparently it wasn't by anyone in US Coal Country.
In any case, we remind you of our previous, August 29, report, of: United States Patent: 4252736, "Conversion of Synthesis Gas to Hydrocarbon Mixtures", which was awarded in 1981, also to Mobil Oil, and which detailed a process for, as the Abstract states, "the conversion of coal to gaseous and liquid products" which included "methane, LPG, gasoline and distillate".
Mobil continued to develop and refine their technology for such "conversion of coal", and were, subsequently, several years later, awarded:
"United States Patent 4,447.310 - Production of Distillates by ... Extraction and Gasification
Date: May, 1984
Inventor: Frank Derbyshire, et. al., NJ
Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation, NY
(We have cited Mobil scientist Derbyshire previously. He went on, subsequently, to serve as Director of the University of Kentucky's Center for Applied Energy Research.)
Abstract: A process for producing a wide slate of fuel products from coal is provided by integrating a methanol-to-gasoline conversion process with coal liquefaction and coal gasification. The coal liquefaction comprises contacting the coal with a solvent under supercritical conditions whereby a dense-gas phase solvent extracts from the coal a hydrogen-rich extract which can be upgraded to produce a distillate stream. The remaining coal is gasified under oxidation conditions to produce a synthesis gas which is converted to methanol. The methanol is converted to gasoline by contact with a zeolite catalyst. Solvent for coal extraction is process derived from the upgraded distillate fraction or gasoline fraction of the methanol-to-gasoline conversion.
Claims: An integrated process for the conversion of solid coal to a wide slate of fuel products comprising: extracting a portion of said coal by contacting said coal with an extraction solvent under supercritical conditions of temperature and pressure whereby said solvent is converted to a dense-gas phase capable of dissolving the coal, separating said solvent and a hydrogen-rich liquid coal extract, said coal extract having a hydrogen concentration greater than said solid coal, a portion of said solid coal remaining an unsolvated, solid coal residue, upgrading at least a portion of said coal extract in the presence of hydrogen to produce a plurality of upgraded fuel products, gasifying said residue under oxidizing conditions to produce a synthesis gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, shifting the hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of a portion of said synthesis gas to produce a hydrogen-enriched gas, combining said hydrogen-enriched gas with said synthesis gas, converting said combined gas to methanol, passing at least a portion of said methanol in contact with a catalyst capable of converting said methanol to gasoline products and recycling at least a portion of said gasoline products for use as said extraction solvent.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein said extraction solvent is additionally obtained from process-derived solvents, external solvents or mixtures thereof.
3. The process of claim 2 wherein said process-derived solvent is selected from the group consisting of solvent-derived from said upgraded fuel products, solvent derived from said methanol, and mixtures thereof.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein said solvent derived from said upgraded fuel products contains compounds capable of donating hydrogen.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein said extraction solvent is additionally obtained from process-derived solvents, external solvents or mixtures thereof.
3. The process of claim 2 wherein said process-derived solvent is selected from the group consisting of solvent-derived from said upgraded fuel products, solvent derived from said methanol, and mixtures thereof.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein said solvent derived from said upgraded fuel products contains compounds capable of donating hydrogen.
Background: This invention relates to processes for obtaining valuable fuel products from coal, and more particularly, relates to the integration of coal liquefaction and coal gasification so as to obtain a wide range of selected fuel products. Specifically, the invention relates to the processing of coal or other solid fuel products by solvent extraction of coal under supercritical conditions of temperature and pressure and coal gasification which are combined with a methanol-to-gasoline conversion process to produce a wide product slate of fuels.
Coal is becoming an increasingly attractive source for gaseous and liquid fuel inasmuch as coal is available in abundant supply and can be liquefied by a variety of techniques to produce a range of gaseous, distillate and nondistillate liquid coal products. It is recognized that the coal products may furnish a substitute for petroleum-based fuels and for petroleum-based feedstocks for the chemical industry.
It has also been well established that coal can be converted to gasoline by gasification of the coal and the subsequent production of methanol from the synthesis gas which is produced and the catalytic conversion of the methanol to gasoline."
Coal is becoming an increasingly attractive source for gaseous and liquid fuel inasmuch as coal is available in abundant supply and can be liquefied by a variety of techniques to produce a range of gaseous, distillate and nondistillate liquid coal products. It is recognized that the coal products may furnish a substitute for petroleum-based fuels and for petroleum-based feedstocks for the chemical industry.
It has also been well established that coal can be converted to gasoline by gasification of the coal and the subsequent production of methanol from the synthesis gas which is produced and the catalytic conversion of the methanol to gasoline."
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Note that this is another of the "combined" Coal liquefaction and conversion process, similar to others we have previously reported, wherein:
Coal is first "extracted", or partially dissolved and hydrogenated, by a hydrogen donor solvent which can itself be derived, as a Coal "tar", from the Coal conversion process, to produce liquid hydrocarbons.
And, the still-carbonaceous residue from that initial solvent extraction is then gasified to produce a "synthesis gas" which is directed, as well, to the "subsequent production of methanol ... and the catalytic conversion of the methanol to gasoline".