We must preface this submission with some caveats.
First, concerning the named inventor of the US Patent we enclose via the above link, there was, according to web-based resources, a Wilburn Schroeder who worked at the US Bureau of Mines Experiment Station in College Park, MD.
But, he worked for the USBM, it seems, during the 1940's; and, there is no indication in the full disclosure of this patent, issued nearly forty years subsequent to Schroeder's verifiable tenure at the College Park USBM lab, concerning the state of his health.
We are, subsequent to our excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch, attaching another link, with excerpts, to a web site maintained by our National Energy Technology Laboratory. It contains, as you will see, some information concerning Schroeder, and some other, what should be provocative, bits of data, as well.
In any case, the technology disclosed by the patent we send along with this submission is, ostensibly, presented as a method for recovering catalysts from the residues of a Coal liquefaction process.
Further scrutiny reveals, however, that it is confirmation of the fact, which we have previously documented, that residues left by some processes of Coal conversion still retain a certain amount of Carbon, which can be productively recovered in the production of yet more hydrocarbon values from those still-carbonaceous CoalTL residues.
Explanatory comment, and an additional link, follow excerpts from:
"United States Patent 4,224,137 - Recovery of Catalysts from the Hydrogenation of Coal
Date: September, 1980
Inventor: Wilburn Schroeder, College Park, MD
Abstract: Coal hydrogenation catalyst is recovered from coal hydrogenation residues containing carbonaceous matter, coal ash and catalyst by contacting such residues with oxygen and steam under conditions to provide H2 and CO containing gases and fused ash which contains catalyst, contacting the fused ash with a reactant which will react with the catalyst to form a catalyst compound which is volatile at the temperature of the fused ash and withdrawing vaporized catalyst compound from the fused ash. The vaporized catalyst may be condensed and dissolved in a solvent liquid to form a solution of catalyst for application to coal to be hydrogenated.
Claims: A method for recovering hydrogenation catalyst from a carbonaceous, coal hydrogenation residue containing same along with coal ash ..., comprising introducing said residue into a synthesis gas generator ... to provide hydrogen containing gases and molten ash containing catalyst at least in part in metallic form ... .
(And) wherein the hydrogenation catalyst is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, iron, nickel, manganese and molybdenum, compounds of said metals, and mixtures of said substances.
In a continuous coal hydrogenation process wherein coal is hydrogenated by hydrogen-containing gases in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst which is carried out of the hydrogenation vessel with the effluent stream and is contained in the carbonaceous residue remaining after separation of hydrocarbon products and wherein the ... improvement (comprises) reacting said carbonaceous residue with steam and oxygen in a synthesis gas generator ... to provide hot hydrogen-containing gases for the hydrogenation reaction ... .
Background: Numerous metals or metallic compounds catalyze the hydrogenation of coal to liquids and gases. ... It should be noted, however, that catalysts may be used effectively in processes in which the major product is a high-Btu gas, such as intended for pipeline transmission. The presence of the catalyst is effective in converting the coal in the hydrogenation reactor primarily to methane and ethane.
Efficient catalyst recovery is particularly essential for hydrogenation processes using catalytic compounds of such relatively expensive metals as cobalt, molybdenum or nickel.
Summary: The purpose of this invention is to provide a simple and practical method for essentially complete recovery of the catalyst from the ash remaining after reaction of carbonaceous, hydrogenation residues in a synthesis gas generator, so that the catalyst may be recycled to the hydrogenation process."
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We close our excerpts here so that we can emphasize a few facts which, upon reflection, in light of some earlier reports we've made, should be rather evident:
First, this technology represents something of a reversal of the procedure followed at the "COED" Coal conversion pilot plant, operated in New Jersey, for our US Government, by the FMC Corporation.
As we have many times documented in our reports concerning that facility, the still-carbonaceous residues left by an initial Coal gasification process were sent to Spain for solvent extraction of remaining hydrocarbon values through use of the hydrogenated version of the primary Coal oil, Naphthalene, which is commonly labeled as "Tetralin".
In Schroeder's technology disclosed herein, conversely, "carbonaceous residue" from an initial, apparently direct, hydrogenation of Coal, which uses gaseous Hydrogen and/or Hydrogen donor gases in a catalyzed hydrotreating reaction, are being gasified "with steam ... in a synthesis gas generator ... to provide" those "hot hydrogen-containing gases for the" initial Coal "hydrogenation reaction".
Thus, treatment of CoalTL residue by "reacting" it "with steam" can provide the Hydrogen needed to hydrogenate and liquefy more raw Coal.
Since no assignee of note is named in this United States Patent, we wanted to confirm Schroeder's Coal science credentials; and, we do so via the following link, with excerpts from the link, to a somewhat revelatory web site hosted by the USDOE's consolidated National Energy Technology Laboratory.
As follows:
"In the early 1930s, Bureau researchers mastered the basic technique of deriving synthetic crude oil from coals. Crude oil from Pittsburgh's pilot plant yielded gasoline that fueled the station's motor pool, including this truck photographed in 1941. Pittsburgh's early work on synthetic fuels determined that carbon-rich coals, though harder to work with, tended to be the best oil sources. These results indicated that most of the country's vast coal reserves qualified as usable raw material for synthetic liquid production.
Essential to the U.S. Government’s wartime preparation was ensuring America’s energy security. Boilers were a key component in this strategy, because boiler outages could snarl critical industries and hinder military operations. To deal with the problem of embrittlement, in which waterborne caustic minerals trigger cracks in steel boiler components, engineers at the Pittsburgh andCollege Park experiment stations developed an embrittlement detector that gave advance warning of hazardous mineral concentrations.
In 1943, the Bureau received a patent for this device, displayed here by project lead Wilburn C. Schroeder."
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Schroeder, the inventor of "United States Patent 4,224,137 - Recovery of Catalysts from the Hydrogenation of Coal", thus, seems to have been an employee of the US Government.
Again, the NETL site is informative, and, following, are a few other facts which can be learned there:
"In the 1930s, Pittsburgh researchers mastered the basic technique of turning coal into synthesis crude oil. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes had identified coal hydrogenation as a top research priority for the Bureau of Mines, and Congress funded a hydrogenation pilot plant at the Pittsburgh Experiment Station. Not only was the program wise for national security, the research was expected to assist the faltering coal industry and brighten the economic outlook for coal-mining districts. The first experiments used local bituminous coal from the Experimental Mine at Bruceton. Shown here, the coal-to-liquids converter for the Pittsburgh coal hydrogenation plant. Crude oil from the pilot plant yielded up to 7 gallons per day of gasoline."
And:
"In the 1940s, the Bureau of Mines determined that lignite coal had value for manufacturing industrial organic chemicals, including synthesis gas, also called water gas. Using its Reyerson-Gernes generator, the Grand Forks plant turned 381 tons of lignite into 16 million cubic feet of water gas in one year’s time and demonstrated the feasibility of gasifying lignite on a commercial scale."
Finally, perhaps of more interest to loyal mountaineers:
"World War II placed heavy demands on U.S. petroleum resources. To assuage associated economic and national security concerns, USBM launched the first U.S. gasification research program at its Morgantown station in 1946. Initially called the Synthesis Gas Production Laboratory, the station was tasked with finding quicker, cheaper ways of gasifying coal to produce synthesis gas. Researchers designed and built their own gasifier to operate on a wide variety of American coals. A second edition of the pilot plant was developed in 1951, and by 1954 the new plant had proven itself a dependable generator of high-quality synthesis gas."
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So, the upshot is, that, "by 1954" a "gasifier" able "to operate on a wide variety of American coals" in Morgantown, WV, "had proven itself a dependable generator of high-quality synthesis gas" which, we suggest, as in the process of the "coal-to-liquids converter" at the 1930's-era "coal hydrogenation plant" in Pittsburgh, PA, could be catalytically condensed into an "oil (which) yielded ... gasoline".
Further, the Bureau of Mines lab in College Park, MD, went on, through it's "project lead", Wilburn Schroeder, to develop a process, as disclosed in "United States Patent 4,224,137", above, wherein carbonaceous residues resulting from, perhaps, the Morgantown, WV, Coal-based "generator of high-quality synthesis gas", or, from the "hydrogenation pilot plant at the Pittsburgh Experiment Station" - where Coal scientists had "mastered the basic technique of turning coal into synthesis crude oil" which could be, and was, "converted into ... gasoline that fueled the station's motor pool" - could themselves be converted "with steam and oxygen in a synthesis gas generator ... to provide hot hydrogen-containing gases for the" initial Coal "hydrogenation reaction".
And, again, this technology reaches far back, beyond just the three decades since USP 4,224,137 itself was issued, back into the decades immediately before, during, and immediately after WWII.
Moreover, all of that Coal technology was developed in key centers of learning in three contiguous states.
What, in the world, has prevented that technology, which our, or our parents', tax money paid for, from being made known to us, from being made available for us to utilize?