http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/servlets/purl/10116157-47l13r/native/
As odd - but by now unsurprisingly - as it might seem, it was the USDOE's Sandia National Lab, all the way out in New Mexico, that was able to liquefy Coal, at a rate in excess of 95% - by starting with a crude Coal distillate supplied to them by our own, local, Consolidation Coal Company.
That fact would seem confirmed by one statement in this Sandia report, acknowledging "Consol Inc. for providing the dewaxed heavy distillate".
Consol has only a minor presence west of the Mississippi River - one mine, according to web-based resources, in Utah.
Furthermore, the Coal raw materials received by Sandia, from Consol, had already, to a certain extent, been processed.
We are compelled to believe that the Coal was sent to New Mexico all the way from one of Consol's Appalachian operations, likely near their Pittsburgh-vicinity facilities and labs where that initial processing could have been accomplished.
It seems unlikely to us, and to one of the old Coal industry hands we consulted, who is familiar with the Utah operation - from when it was owned by others - that any preliminary processing of any type, aside from basic Coal cleaning and sorting, could have been performed there.
However, it is also seems possible, perhaps even likely, that the raw Consol Coal liquids processed by Sandia originated, in part, from the USDOE's Pittsburgh Bituminous Coal Research Laboratory, as detailed in our report of February 10, 2011, concerning the BCR Lab's study of the "High temperature soaking of coal in coal liquids prior to liquefaction", as can be accessed via the link:
Pittsburgh Improves Coal Liquefaction with Coal-derived Liquids | Research & Development | News
Furthermore, additional Coal liquids were supplied to Sandia, as they do specify, from the Wilsonville, Alabama, Advanced Coal Liquefaction Test Facility, about which we've earlier reported, as in, for instance:
DOE/BP Liquify Alabama Coal | Research & Development | News
And in which report we alerted you to the fact, that, there was "another, very similar, Coal liquid upgrading project undertaken at Sandia, in New Mexico".
The seeming illogic of it all aside, Sandia was able to develop an efficient Coal liquefaction process that enabled the liquefaction of 95%, or virtually all, of the Carbon content of the Coal products supplied to them.
As seen, with comment appended, in excerpts from the initial and following links to:
672 K View Document or Access Individual Pages; DOI: 10.2172/10116157
Title: Progress in donor assisted coal liquefaction: Hydroaromatic compound formation.
December, 1993
Authors: R.J. Kottenstette and H.P. Stephens
OSTI ID: 10116157; Report: SAND--93-2615C; Contract Number AC04-94AL85000
Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., NM; Sponsor: USDOE, Washington, DC
We gratefully acknowledge Consol Inc. for providing the dewaxed heavy distillate.
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy at Sandia National Laboratories under contract
DE-AC04-94AL8500.
Abstract: The role of hydrogen donor compounds in coal liquefaction has been extensively investigated since the mid 1960`s using model compounds and process derived hydrogen donor solvents. Our recent research and that of other investigators have shown that two model compounds in particular have great efficacy in solvating low rank coals. 1,2,3, tetrahydrofluoranthene (H4Fl) and 1,2,3,6,7,8 hexahydropyrene (H6Py) have been used to dissolve Wyodak coal to > 95% soluble material as measured by tetrahydrofuran (THF).
Although these hydrogen donors are very effective, they may not be found in any significant concentrations in actual liquefaction process recycle solvents. Therefore, studies with process derived recycle materials are necessary to understand donor solvent chemistry. The objective of this paper is to present results of solvent hydrogenation experiments using heavy distillate solvents produced during testing at the Wilsonville Advanced Coal Liquefaction Test Facility. We evaluated the impact of hydrogenation conditions upon hydrogen donor formation in process derived distillates and compared these process derived solvents with the highly effective H{sub 4}Fl and H{sub 6}Py donors in coal liquefaction tests. This paper presents data on reaction conditions used for distillate hydrotreating and subsequent coal liquefaction, with an aim toward understanding the relationship between reaction conditions and donor solvent quality in recycle distillates.
Coal liquefaction tests,.- Coal conversion experiments were performed to test the ability of the
hydrogenated distillate or model compounds to liquefy coal. The tests were performed noncatalytically to evaluate the effectiveness of the solvents for coal conversion.
Liquefaction tests with these compounds have shown high (>95%) conversion ... ."
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We'll keep our excerpts from the USDOE's highly-technical, and graphics-laden, report brief.
In sum, as we understand it, our USDOE's Sandia Lab, two decades ago, hydrogenated raw Coal liquids, and thereby made a Hydrogen "donor solvent", as above, with which they treated other, partially-processed Coal liquids they received from Pittsburgh and Alabama.
And, they were, thereby, able to convert more than 95% of all the starting Coal into hydrocarbon liquids.