Herein, from the one-time parent company, before some complicated disvestitures, of our own, local Consolidation Coal Company, we present information concerning improvements made in catalysts intended to assist in the conversion of Coal into liquid hydrocarbons.
It is all a refinement of the venerable Fischer-Tropsch process, which, via generation of synthesis gas and subsequent catalysis, converts Coal into those liquid hydrocarbons.
However, good ole' ConocoPhillips, as in a number of similar carbon conversion technologies invented by members of the Big Oil club, manages to avoid entirely any use of the dirty, four-letter word, "Coal"; insisting, without variance, that the needed "synthesis gas" can be obtained by processing Methane, or "natural gas".
Which ain't too bad, really, since we've known since award of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to Paul Sabatier, that we can make Methane from Carbon Dioxide.
But, their little secret is revealed by their admitted use of catalytic materials obtained from our oft-cited SASOL - South Africa Synthetic Oil Limited, who have, now, been happily and successfully converting Coal into liquid transportation fuels, in multiple South African facilities, for quite a few decades.
And, it should all be pretty straightforward stuff for our regular readers, aside from what might be some unfamiliar nomenclature, which we explain in comments following excerpts from:
"US Patent 7,012,104 - Fischer-Tropsch Processes (with) Catalysts Made from ... Boehmite
Date: March, 2006
Inventors: Rafael Espinoza, et. al., Oklahoma
Assignee: ConocoPhillips Company, Texas
Abstract: A hydrothermally-stable catalyst, method for making the same, and process for producing hydrocarbon, wherein the catalyst is used in synthesis gas conversion to hydrocarbons. In one embodiment, the method comprises depositing a compound of a catalytic metal selected from Groups 8, 9, and 10 of the Periodic Table on a support material comprising boehmite to form a composite material; and calcining the composite material to form the catalyst. In other embodiments, the support material comprises synthetic boehmite, natural boehmite, pseudo-boehmite, or combinations thereof.
Claims: A process for producing hydrocarbons (which comprises) contacting a catalyst with a feed stream comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a reaction zone, wherein the catalyst is made by a method (as specified, and) converting at least a portion of the feed stream to hydrocarbon products ... .
(And) wherein the support material comprises synthetic boehmite, natural boehmite, pseudo-boehmite, or combinations thereof.
(And) wherein the catalytic metal (deposited in the support material) comprises cobalt, iron, nickel, or combinations thereof.
The present invention relates to a method of making a catalyst by treating a support material comprising boehmite in the presence of a catalytic metal and more specifically to catalysts with enhanced hydrothermal stability and their use in processes comprising hydrothermal conditions, such as in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.
(To produce the catalyst), gibbsite is derived from bauxite. The Bayer process is a common process for producing gibbsite from bauxite.
In a second transformation, boehmite is derived from gibbsite.
Fischer-Tropsch product mixtures ... may be processed to yield gasoline ... .
The Fischer-Tropsch process is commonly facilitated by a catalyst. Catalysts desirably have the function of increasing the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction. A feed containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen is typically contacted with a catalyst in a reactor.
(There) is a need for Fischer-Tropsch catalysts having superior stability. Further needs include a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst that is hydrothermally stable. Additional needs include a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst with increased performance.
Fischer-Tropsch Operation: A process for producing hydrocarbons preferably includes contacting a feed stream that includes carbon monoxide and hydrogen with the present catalyst. Alternatively or in combination, a process for producing hydrocarbons includes contacting a feed stream that includes carbon monoxide and hydrogen with a catalyst in a reaction zone so as to produce hydrocarbons, where the catalyst is a catalyst made according to the present invention.
The feed gas charged to the process for producing hydrocarbons includes hydrogen, or a hydrogen source, and carbon monoxide. H2/CO mixtures suitable as a feedstock for conversion to hydrocarbons according to the process of this invention can be obtained from (various) processes known in the art.
(The Steam-gasification of Coal, for instance.)
Examples (as provided) illustrate commercially viable Fischer-Tropsch performance of various catalysts containing a boehmitic support (such as) Alcoa Hi Q.RTM.-10 Boehmite and ... Sasol Dispal.RTM. 23N4-80 Boehmite.
(See: Sasol Alumina - Boehmite, High Purity Alumina and Hydrotalcite - Chemicals Technology; "The main focus of Sasol's 'Inorganic Specialty Chemicals' business unit ... is the production of synthetic aluminas and boehmites derived from aluminium alkoxides. Our aluminas and boehmites have ... over more than 30 years found their way into a broad range of different applications, including catalyst supports, coatings, polymer additives, paint detackifier, sol-gel abrasives and ceramics.")
(In) the Fischer-Tropsch process, carbon monoxide is converted into organic molecules containing carbon and hydrogen. Those organic molecules containing only carbon and hydrogen are known as hydrocarbons. In addition, other organic molecules containing oxygen in addition to carbon and hydrogen known as oxygenates (Methanol is an "oxygenate", by the way.) may be formed during the Fischer-Tropsch process. Hydrocarbons having carbons linked in a straight chain are known as aliphatic hydrocarbons that may include paraffins and/or olefins. Paraffins are particularly desirable as the basis of synthetic diesel fuel."
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The full Disclosure is lengthy and complicated - even beyond our over-long and somewhat disjointed excerpts; and, it isn't recommended reading for any but the most technically-oriented.
And, again, since "Coal" isn't even directly mentioned, some among our readers might not be that interested.
However, this is, most definitely, an advancement made on Fischer-Tropsch technology, which was developed initially, early in the last century, to convert Coal into liquid hydrocarbons; and, it specifies, as noted, use of catalytic materials obtained from SASOL - the predominant, and most experienced, international operator of commercial Coal liquefaction facilities.
Herein, the former, domestic US, parent of Consolidation Coal Company (Consol) - i.e, ConocoPhillips, has gone SASOL one better, by devising an improved catalyst system centered on "Boehmite" - a material easily derived from the relatively dirt-cheap Aluminum ore, Bauxite, to more efficiently convert mixtures of "carbon monoxide and hydrogen", as can be produced via long-known techniques for the Steam-gasification of Coal, into more valuable "hydrocarbon products", such as Conoco's specified "oxygenate" alcohols, and, "gasoline" and "synthetic diesel fuel".