Energy Citations Database (ECD) - - Document #6074682
We've earlier documented, at least once, the somewhat, to us, inexplicable assignment, by our USDOE, of responsibilities for researching Coal liquefaction technology to the Bechtel Corporation, of San Francisco.
Herein, we see that the USDOE engaged Bechtel's services to evaluate a variety of Coal conversion processes, all of which we have previously, and separately, reported to you.
This "Final Report" is quite large; but, we will confine our excerpts, from the initial and following links, only to the Abstract, with comment appended:
View Document or Access Individual Pages; DOI:10.2172/6074682
Title: Analysis of coal hydrogasification processes. Final report
Authors: M. Epstein; T.P. Chen; M.A. Ghaly
Publication Date: August, 1978;
Report Number: FE-2565-14; DOE Contract: EF-77-A-01-2565; OSTI ID: 6074682
Research Organization: Bechtel Corp., San Francisco, CA
Abstract: Bechtel Corporation has conducted a program to investigate the operability potential and scaleup feasibility of the Cities Service, Rocketdyne, Pittsburgh Energy Research Center (PERC), and Brookhaven National Laboratory coal hydrogasification processes. A reactor model study has been performed for each of the processes, and a conceptual, full-scale hydrogasification reactor design has been generated. The entrained-downflow reactor systems operate at temperatures up to 2,000F and pressures up to 3,000 psi. Reactor product is primarily methane, with smaller amounts of ethane, BTX, light oils, and carbon-oxides. Bechtel has collected and analyzed bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coal hydrogasification and hydropyrolysis data from Rocketdyne, Cities Service, PERC, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Semiempirical correlations for predicting overall carbon conversion efficiency and carbon selectivity to gaseous products have been fitted to the data. A conceptual design of a full-scale hydrogasification reactor has been generated, on the basis of the subbituminous coal data gathered in the Cities Service and Rocketdyne reactors, together with the predictive reactor performance models fitted to the data. The hydrogasification stage has a configuration similar to the Rocketdyne reactor assembly. 166 Pages."
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In other words, very nearly 33 years ago, our USDOE was given a report, based on research our tax money paid for, that evaluated the effectiveness of various processes for gasifying Coal with Steam, in order to manufacture a variety of products, including "methane"; the gasoline blending stock, "BTX" - i.e., Benzene, Toluene and Xylene; and, "oils".
And, as a perhaps unnecessary aside, we remind you, as in, for just one example, our report of:
Pittsburgh 1941 CO2 + Methane = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development | News; concerning: "United States Patent 2,266,989 - Manufacture of a Gas from CO2 and Methane; 1941; Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, PA: Abstract: The present invention relates to the manufacture of gases suitable for the synthesis of higher hydrocarbons ... by reacting ... methane ... with carbon dioxide or a mixture of carbon dioxide and steam"; that:
Once we have Methane, as one of the products which can, along with liquid hydrocarbons, as herein, be synthesized by the "hydrogasification" of Coal, we can react it with Carbon Dioxide, reclaimed from whatever source, and convert the both of them, together, into a gas mixture "suitable for the synthesis of higher hydrocarbons".