Energy Citations Database (ECD) - - Document #908630
We have many times documented the Carbon conversion expertise that has been established at Penn State University.
Our reports have included a few, such as: Penn State Jet Fuel from Coal | Research & Development | News;
which details "Coal Tar ... As Feedstocks For ... Jet Fuel; 1999; and which confirm that scientists there have, for some time, been studying the conversion of Coal into aviation fuel.
Herein, we see that other scientists at Penn State, including our oft-cited Chunsan Song, have been at work related to other, similar undertakings we have previously reported; i.e., the further recycling and processing of the still-carbonaceous residues which might result from a primary process of converting Coal into more versatile hydrocarbons.
They have, in an effort sponsored, via the USDOE, by our tax money, devised a way in which carbonaceous residues resulting from, perhaps, the process described in "Coal Tar ... As Feedstocks For ... Jet Fuel", or similar Coal conversion technologies, can be further processed into raw material feed stock suitable for conventional petroleum refineries.
Comment, and additional information, follows excerpts from the initial and following links to:
1 Mb View Document or Access Individual Pages; DOI: 10.2172/908630
Title: Refinery Integration of By-Products from Coal-Derived Jet Fuels; May, 2007
OSTI ID: 908630; USDOE Contract Number: FC26-03NT41828
By: Caroline Burgess Clifford, Andre Boehman, Chunsan Song, et. al.
Research Organization: The Pennsylvania State University; Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
Abstract: This report summarizes the accomplishments toward project goals during the no cost extension period of the third year of the project to assess the properties and performance of coal based products. These products are in the gasoline, diesel and fuel oil range and result from coal based jet fuel production from an Air Force funded program.
Specific areas of progress include generation of coal based material that has been fractionated into the desired refinery cuts for a third round of testing, the use of a research gasoline engine to test coal-based gasoline, and modification of diesel engines for use in evaluating diesel produced in the project.
The desulfurization of sulfur containing components of coal and petroleum is being studied so that effective conversion of blended coal and petroleum streams can be efficiently converted to useful refinery products.
Activated carbons have proven useful to remove the heavy sulfur components, and unsupported Ni/Mo and Ni/Co catalysts have been very effective for hydrodesulfurization.
Equipment is now in place to begin fuel oil evaluations to assess the quality of coal based fuel oil.
Combustion and characterization of the latest fuel oil ... indicates that the fraction is heavier than a No. 6 fuel oil. ... The co-coking ... with the new coal have begun (and) the coke yield (is) similar to previous runs, but the gas yield is lower and the liquid yield is higher.
Work continues on characterization of liquids and solids from co-coking of hydrotreated decant oils; liquid yields include more saturated and hydro- aromatics, while the coke quality varies depending on the conditions used.
The tests will be repeated for the Pittsburgh seam ... ."
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We note that Penn State's efforts herein seem to echo similar work conducted long ago by the US Bureau of Mines, in Pittsburgh, PA, as documented, for one instance, in our report of:
Pittsburgh USBM Converts CoalTL Residue - in 1953 | Research & Development | News; wherein is disclosed: "United States Patent 2,634,286 - Production of Hydrocarbon Synthesis Gas from Coal; 1953";
a technology developed by USBM scientists in Pittsburgh, PA, which enabled "the production of synthesis gas and more particularly the production of a low-sulfur content mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen by gasifying the finely-divided low-sulfur content char obtained as a by-product of the direct hydrogenation of coal ... ."
As it happens, one of the USBM scientists named as a co-inventor of that 1953 technology is Henry Storch, whose Coal conversion expertise we have several times documented for you, and for whom the American Chemical Society's annual Storch Award is named.
As we have earlier explained, and as can be seen via: Fuel Chemistry Storch Award:
"The Henry H. Storch Award wilI be given annually to the citizen of the United States who has contributed most to fundamental or engineering research on the chemistry and utilization of coal or related materials in the preceding five years."
And, therein lies yet another, indirect and non-technical, connection between Penn State University's Coal liquefaction residue conversion process, as explained herein, and those developed by Storch and his colleagues, more than half a century ago, at the USBM:
In 2010, the American Chemical Society's Henry H. Storch Award was presented to PSU's Chunsan Song.
As detailed in:
Song receives ACS's Henry H. Storch Award in fuel chemistry — Penn State University
Chunshan Song, distinguished professor of fuel science and director of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences' Energy Institute at Penn State, has received the (2010) Henry H. Storch Award in Fuel Chemistry.
The Henry H. Storch Award, co-sponsored by the Division of Fuel Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and Elsevier Ltd., is given annually to recognize an individual in the field of fuel science for an exceptional contribution to research on the chemistry and utilization of hydrocarbon fuels. Special consideration is given to innovation and novelty in the use of fuels, characterization of fuels, and advances in fuel chemistry that benefit the public welfare or the environment. The award is the highest ACS Fuel Chemistry Division's honor for research.
Song is known internationally for his contributions to clean fuels, catalysis and carbon dioxide capture and conversion research. His early research on catalytic coal liquefaction and the effects of drying on low temperature coal conversion led to a method for preparing highly active dispersed catalysts. Further fundamental studies using probe molecules resulted in two patents related to nano-sized ultra-high-surface metal sulfide catalysts. From his efforts to make better use of coal-derived aromatics, he designed shape-selective alkylation catalysts used in the synthesis of advanced polymers precursors and engineering materials from naphthalene.
His contributions to coal-based advanced thermally stable jet fuels rely on the fundamental chemistry related to fuel composition and structure. For ultra-clean fuels and fuel cells, Song and his group devised a selective adsorption approach for removing sulfur from liquid hydrocarbon fuels without using hydrogen.
A Storch Award Symposium in Honor of Chunshan Song will be held at ACS Fall 2010 National Meeting to be held August 22-26 in Boston."
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Note, again: "Song is known internationally for his contributions to ... carbon dioxide ...conversion (and) research on catalytic coal liquefaction".