As can be seen in: Exxon 1981 Coal Liquefaction Process | Research & Development | News; wherein is detailed: "US Patent 4,250,014 - Coal Liquefaction Process; 1981; Assignee: Exxon Co., NJ"; we have documentation of the fact that Exxon, and, by extension, the petroleum industry, has known since at least 1981 that Coal can, efficiently and profitably, be converted into Gasoline and other liquid fuels.
Herein, via the initial link in this dispatch, we see that 1981 was an especially good year for Exxon, in terms of technical achievements related to the conversion of our abundant Coal into more versatile, and needed, liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.
They developed an efficient process, based on gasifying Coal with Steam, that generates, as co-products, both Methane and hydrocarbon liquids.
Moreover, in confirmation of earlier of our reports concerning similar technologies, some of the needed chemical reactions in Exxon's system are exothermic:
Those reactions, in fact, generate heat sufficient to drive the rest of the process.
It is thus unnecessary to import energy; or, to combust some of the Coal and thereby generate, perhaps unwanted, Carbon Dioxide.
All those facts, and one or two others, have some implications that are, by now, likely obvious to our readers; but, which we will again attempt to emphasize following our excerpts from:
"United States Patent 4,292,048 - Coal Devolatilization and Steam Gasification Process
Date: September, 1981
Inventors: Robert Wesselhoft and David Ryan, Texas
Assignee: Exxon Research & Engineering Company, NJ
Abstract: Hydrocarbon liquids and a methane-containing gas are produced from carbonaceous feed solids by contacting the solids with a mixture of gases containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a devolatilization zone at a relatively low temperature in the presence of a carbon-alkali metal catalyst. The devolatilization zone effluent is treated to condense out hydrocarbon liquids and at least a portion of the remaining methane-rich gas is steam reformed to produce the carbon monoxide and hydrogen with which the carbonaceous feed solids are contacted in the devolatilization zone. The char produced in the devolatilization zone is reacted with steam in a gasification zone under gasification conditions in the presence of a carbon-alkali metal catalyst and the resultant raw product gas is treated to recover a methane-containing gas.
Background and Description: This invention relates to the devolatilization and gasification of coal and similar carbonaceous materials and is particularly concerned with an integrated catalytic devolatilization and steam gasification process carried out in the presence of a carbon-alkali metal catalyst to simultaneously produce both a methane-containing gas and hydrocarbon liquids.
Existing and proposed processes for the manufacture of synthetic gaseous fuels from coal or similar carbonaceous materials normally require the reaction of carbon with steam, alone or in combination with oxygen ... to produce a gas which may contain some methane but consists primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This gas can be used directly as a synthesis gas or a fuel gas with little added processing or can be reacted with additional steam to increase the hydrogen-to-carbon monoxide ratio and then fed to a catalytic methanation unit for reaction with carbon monoxide and hydrogen to produce methane. It has been shown that processes of this type can be improved by carrying out the initial gasification step in the presence of a catalyst containing an alkali metal constituent.
The catalytic effect of carbon-alkali metal catalysts on the gas phase reactions, as distinguished from the solid-gas reactions or the reactions of carbon with steam, hydrogen or carbon dioxide, allows ... exothermic reactions to contribute substantially to the presence of methane in the effluent gas and drastically reduces the endothermicity of the overall reaction... .
Under the proper operating conditions, these reactions can be made to take place within the gasification zone and supply large amounts of methane and additional exothermic heat which would otherwise have to be supplied by the injection of oxygen or other means.
It has been recently found that difficulties associated with (earlier Coal gasification) processes ... can largely be avoided by carrying out the reaction of steam with carbon in the presence of a carbon-alkali metal catalyst and substantially equilibrium quantities of added (synthesis gas).
(It has been) shown that catalysts produced by the reaction of carbon and alkali metal compounds such as potassium carbonate to form carbon-alkali metal compounds or complexes will, under the proper reaction conditions, equilibrate the gas phase reactions occurring during gasification to produce methane and at the same time supply substantial amounts of exothermic heat within the gasifier. This additional exothermic heat of reaction essentially balances the overall endothermicity of the reactions involving solid carbon and thus results in a substantially thermoneutral process in which the injection of large amounts of oxygen or the use of other expensive methods of supplying heat are eliminated.
Under the proper operating conditions, (the specified) reactions can be made to take place within the gasification zone and supply large amounts of methane and additional exothermic heat.
The present invention provides a catalytic process (in which) high-quality, hydrocarbon liquids can be produced simultaneously with a methane-containing gas from a solid carbonaceous feed material by integrating a catalytic devolatilization zone with a catalytic steam gasification zone."
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First, note that Steam is employed herein to provide all of the Hydrogen needed to fully convert and hydrogenate the Carbon content of the Coal.
And, as confirmed in the explanation of the "reactions of carbon with ... carbon dioxide", any CO2 generated within the system is broken down into Carbon Monoxide and thus consumed in the production of syngas.
In fact, as we read it, the implication seems to be that, given sufficient Steam, additional CO2, from other sources, could be imported into the conversion process, wherein the CO2 reduction reactions with the Steam and hot Coal would be promoted by the simple, and inexpensive, "alkali metal catalyst".
Thus, not only does this self-energized technology for converting Coal into "high-quality hydrocarbon liquids" produce no effluent Carbon Dioxide of it's own, it can actually be made to consume, and productively utilize, CO2 that arises from, for instance, natural volcanic processes, as well as CO2 generated by other human activities, such as the fermentation and distillation of ethanol.
Not only that, but, Methane, CH4, is generated herein from Coal, along with the "hydrocarbon liquids".
And, we remind you, as in just one of our reports, out of many similar, as accessible via:
WVU CO2 + CH4 = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development | News; and, wherein is revealed:
"New Catalysts for Syngas Production from Carbon Dioxide and Methane; Mahesh V. Iyer;Thesis submitted to the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemical Engineering";
that: Methane, once we've made it - - as herein generated by Exxon, along with the "hydrocarbon liquids", via the process of US Patent 4,292,048 - - from Coal, can be reacted with even more Carbon Dioxide, collected from elsewhere, and made thereby to generate a synthesis gas suitable for catalytic condensation into even more "hydrocarbon liquids".