Without linking to earlier reports, we remind you that we have previously documented the "International Coal Refining Company", which was a USDOE-funded joint venture between Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc., and Pennsylvania's Air Products and Chemicals company, that built, and for a brief time operated, a "Solvent Refined Coal", or SRC, Coal liquefaction facility near Allentown, PA.
That plant was intended to, ultimately, be a large-scale Coal conversion factory, the plans of which called for it, after initial trials and start-up, to be expanded to produce 100,00 barrels, per day, of Oil, from 30,000 tons, per day, of Coal.
Which, almost of course, for unknown reasons we must hold suspect, never happened.
The SRC process was actually, in certain circles well-known. It was, for instance, the basis of the US Government-funded Wilsonville, Alabama, Coal liquefaction facility, which was operated for the government by "Catalytic, Inc.", an entity that actually was, or, if they're still in existence, is, a subsidiary of Air Products and Chemicals.
We have cited both Air Products and the Wilsonville operation, specifically, in previous reports concerning Coal conversion technology; and, we will likely be citing them again in the future.
Herein, though, we wanted to submit two United States Patents that were issued to the "ICR Company" Air Products-Wheelabrator joint venture, resulting from tax dollar-sponsored work performed at the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Coal liquefaction pilot plant.
We thought they might be of some special interest to our readers, since We the People own them.
Comment, and an additional link and excerpts, follow excerpts taken from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"United States Patent 4,376,032 - Coal Liquefaction Desulfurization Process
Date: March, 1983
Inventor: Edwin Givens, PA
Assignee: International Coal Refining Company, Allentown
Abstract: In a solvent refined coal liquefaction process, more effective desulfurization of the high boiling point components is effected by first stripping the solvent-coal reacted slurry of lower boiling point components, particularly including hydrogen sulfide and low molecular weight sulfur compounds, and then reacting the slurry with a solid sulfur getter material, such as iron. The sulfur getter compound, with reacted sulfur included, is then removed with other solids in the slurry.
The Government of the United States of America has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC05-780R03054 (as modified) awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy."
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We keep our excerpts deliberately brief since the full Disclosure is somewhat technical and relies in places on what we can only characterize as "jargon" that would be genuinely intelligible only to "insiders".
But, the Disclosure does confirm earlier of our reports, from other sources, explaining that any Sulfur present in Coal liquids can be efficiently removed.
Little explanation is given of what they refer to as the "hydrogen donor solvent" that is used in their Coal refining process. However, as we believe we have documented in previous reports, and as we will attempt to document again in the future, the solvent could be either a petroleum derivative, or, more attractively, an hydrogenated Coal liquid derived from the process itself.
And, in fact, the International Coal Refining Company was issued another US Patent, a few years subsequent to the above USP 4,376,032, which tends to confirm the fact that Coal-derived liquids can be made to serve as Coal liquefaction solvents.
As seen in:
"United States Patent 4,510,040 - Coal Liquefaction Process
Date: April, 1985
Inventor: Ronald Skinner, et. al., PA and CA
Assignee: International Coal Refining Company, Allentown
Abstract: This invention relates to an improved process for the production of liquid carbonaceous fuels and solvents from carbonaceous solid fuels, especially coal. The claimed improved process includes the hydrocracking of the light SRC mixed with a suitable hydrocracker solvent. The recycle of the resulting hydrocracked product, after separation and distillation, is used to produce a solvent for the hydrocracking of the light solvent refined coal.
The Government of the United States of America has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC05-780R03054 (as modified), awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
This invention relates to the process for the liquefaction of carbonaceous solid fuels, particularly coals with respect to enhanced production of liquid carbonaceous fuels and solvents."
The present invention involves a solvent coal refining process in which, following liquefaction and light gas separation, the coal slurry is subjected to vacuum distillation, the bottom stream of which is solvent deashed. This solvent deashing includes a sequence of separation steps at elevated temperature and pressure. The present invention involves an improvement in the process wherein "Light SRC" is the favored product, the "Heavy SRC" being recycled almost to extinction. Such Light SRC is, in turn, hydrocracked on a fixed catalyst bed to yield commercially useful liquid fuels."
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In other words, "heavy" Coal conversion residues could be further processed until they were completely consumed in the production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
And, one primary focus of the process of USP 4,510,040 is, clearly, to define a "process for the liquefaction of ... coals with respect to enhanced production" of both "liquid carbonaceous fuels and solvents"; thus indicating, again, that the Hydrogen-donor Coal liquefaction solvent can be derived from the Coal liquefaction process itself.
Furthermore, some of the Allentown products, or similar Solvent Refined Coal liquids, were studied to some additional extent by other companies, including UOP-Honeywell and Chevron. And, we will attempt to bring you reports of some of that work as we go along.
But, in any case, it is herein documented by, as it is embodied in the Patent and Trademark Office, our own US Government, that, very nearly thirty years ago, that same US Government paid, through the USDOE, to have technologies developed which, clearly, enabled the conversion our abundant Coal into "commercially useful liquid fuels".
Why haven't We the People yet been privileged to even learn of those Coal liquefaction processes we now own - - much less been afforded the opportunity to use them to free ourselves from economic bondage to sometimes unfriendly foreign Oil producing nations and multi-national Oil corporations, whose self interests aren't, necessarily, in our best interests?