One advance excerpt from the United States Patent we send along in this dispatch should serve as more than sufficient explanation for you as to why we are addressing the invention it discloses:
"Hydrogen can be used to produce methane from coal using known processes".
But, more than that, as in:
WVU Hydrogenates Coal Tar | Research & Development; which concerns:
"Hydrogenation of Naphthalene and Coal Tar Distillate; Abhijit Bhagavatula; West Virginia University; 2009; Abstract: The hydrogenation of naphthalene and coal-tar distillates has been carried out in a Trickle Bed Reactor, in which the liquid is allowed to flow through the catalyst bed in the presence of hydrogen ... (to obtain) the hydrogenated product, tetralin (1,2,3,4 Tetrahydronaphthalene). It was also noted that the sulfur content of the hydrogenated product was reduced by about 85 % and the nitrogen content reduced by
about 41 % from that of the feed. Coal-derived liquids have been produced at West Virginia University (WVU) by hydrogenating coal and combining it with a solvent extraction process. For example, coal was hydrogenated ... using (tetralin) as the solvent in a continuously stirred tank reactor";
Hydrogen can be utilized to convert primary Coal, or Coke Oven, tars into Hydrogen-donor solvents, such as "tetralin", that can serve to hydrogenate and liquefy raw Coal, converting that Coal into hydrocarbon liquids which can then be refined and distilled into standard forms of transportation fuels; while, at the same time, as confirmed in:
Illinois Uses WVU CoalTL Solvent to Desulfurize Coal | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,888,029 - Desulfurization of Carbonaceous Materials; 1989; Assignees: Southern Illinois University and the Illinois State Geologic Survey; Abstract: A process for desulfurizing carbonaceous material containing inorganic bound sulfur, organic bound sulfur, or combinations thereof. The process comprises reacting the carbonaceous material at desulfurization conditions with a hydrogen source material in the presence of a reaction accelerator to enhance production and reactivity of atomic hydrogen supplied by the hydrogen source. (And) wherein the carbonaceous material comprises coal (and, wherein the reaction yields) hydrogen sulfide (and) wherein the hydrogen source material is ... tetralin";
removing Sulfur and Nitrogen from those Coal-derived liquids.
And, note: The Illinois process of "United States Patent 4,888,029", directly above, results in the generation of Hydrogen Sulfide.
Before any environmentally-concerned souls in our audience take alarm, we remind you, that, as in:
Exxon Methane and Hydrogen from H2S and Carbon Monoxide | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,517,171 - Synthesis of H2 and CH4 from H2S and CO; 1985; Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Abstract: Hydrogen and methane are synthesized from a gaseous feed comprising a mixture of H2S and CO by contacting said feed with a catalyst";
we can use such Hydrogen Sulfide to make both additional Methane and additional Hydrogen by reacting it with Carbon Monoxide, which, as in:
More Oklahoma CO2 + Coal = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development | News; concerning: "United States Patent 4.040,976 - Process of Treating Carbonaceous Material with Carbon Dioxide; 1977; Assignee: Cities Service Company; Abstract: A mixture of carbon dioxide and a carbonaceous material, such as coal, is rapidly heated in a reactor, giving a gaseous effluent comprising carbon monoxide";
we can make by reacting Carbon Dioxide, recovered from whatever source, with red-hot Coal.
And, while the extra Hydrogen of Exxon's "US Patent 4,517,171" could be added to the Hydrogen produced by the process of our subject invention, which, we promise, we will get to, note that Exxon's process also produces more Methane, just as noted as a potential end product in the advance excerpt, above, from our subject herein; and, which Methane, from both processes, could then be used, as in:
Standard Oil 1950 CO2 + CH4 + H2O = Syngas | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,522, 468 - Production of Synthesis Gas; 1950; Assignee: Standard Oil Development Company;
Abstract: My invention relates to the production of a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen suitably proportioned for use as a feed-gas in the synthesis of hydrocarbons ... boiling in the gasoline and gas oil range, by ... charging a mixture of methane, steam and carbon dioxide to a reforming zone";
to make "gasoline" out of "steam and carbon dioxide".
So, Hydrogen would be a pretty nifty thing to have some of; and, here, finally, in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch, with comment inserted and appended concerning how the process could actually apply to US Coal Country, is explanation of how we can make plenty of it:
"United States Patent 7,329,099 - Wind Turbine and Energy Distribution System
Date: February, 2008
Inventor: Paul Hartman, Ohio
Abstract: A new design of vertical axis wind turbine is disclosed ... . The stability and low cost of the new design allows the turbine to function in low wind speed regimes as well as high speed winds that would be encountered in off-shore wind installations. The large stresses and structural requirements of mounting large horizontal axis wind turbines, particularly off-shore, are avoided with the new system.
A new energy distribution system is proposed that will capture abundant off-shore wind energy, store it aboard a generator/delivery ship in the form of Hydrogen gas, and deliver it to an existing shore based power plant to produce electricity using a conventional gas turbine. Alternatively, the Hydrogen can be used to produce methane from coal using known processes to add natural gas to pipelines in areas that would normally be consuming the material. Both applications, and the direct production of heat by the new turbines, would stabilize our national energy grid while reducing CO2 emissions.
Claims: An apparatus for conversion of a wind energy resource into rotational power ... .
A wind electric system, wherein the apparatus ... is coupled to electrical generating means, and said electrical generating means is connected to an electrical load, whereby; said rotational power is converted to electrical power delivered to said electrical load;
(And, which) electrical load comprises at least one electrolysis cell, said at least one electrolysis cell connected to an output stream of hydrogen gas and further connected to an input stream of water.
(And, the apparatus) further including hydrogen handling equipment for compressing, storing and transferring said output stream of hydrogen gas.
Background and Summary: Most recently, a corporation formed around the work of Lackner .. has worked on the pollution free production of public electricity from coal.
The first step of the Lackner process ... the hydrogenation of coal to produce methane ... is a viable technology developed between the 1930's and 1960's. Implementation of the later technology, would go a long way towards the realistic goal of stabilizing global CO2 ... , and could do so in a much shorter period of time and with better assurance of public safety than use of a totally Hydrogen based economy.
The invention consists of a robust vertical axis windmill/turbine design based on dome structure spars as blade supports and blades. It can either be ship mounted or land based and operate in low (windmill) to very high (wind turbine) wind speed regimes. Driven devices for heat and electricity generation allow for production of site/district heating and Hydrogen.
Integrated downstream equipment can use the Hydrogen for ... production of (synthetic or substitute) natural gas for heating and transportation needs."
---------------------
Or, we can use the Hydrogen, as in the WVU process cited in our introductory comments, to manufacture a Coal hydrogenation solvent that would enable us to convert Coal into hydrocarbon liquids.
Or. we could use the Methane, the "(synthetic or substitute) natural gas", in the process of "United States Patent 2,522, 468", as stated above, to convert Carbon Dioxide into, ultimately, "gasoline".
And, there is a perhaps better way to convert the Hydrogen generated by our subject "US Patent 7,329,099" into that Methane.
Even though "US Patent 7,329,099" specifically suggests that we use its product Hydrogen to, as above, "produce methane from coals"; we submit, that, instead, as seen for one instance in:
NASA Rocket Fuel from CO2 | Research & Development; concerning how: "methane can be manufactured via the Sabatier process: Mix some carbon dioxide (CO2) with hydrogen (H), then heat the mixture to produce CH4 and H20 -- methane and water";
we can use that Hydrogen to make the desired Methane, by reacting the Hydrogen, via the century-old, Nobel-winning Sabatier process, with Carbon Dioxide.
Further, although our subject invention seems to point specifically to off-shore wind power installations as the source of energy to drive it's Hydrogen production process, we remind you that, as in:
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; which reports that: "Mountaineer Wind Energy Center is a wind farm on Backbone Mountain in Preston and Tucker counties in the US state of West Virginia. When it came online in December 2002, Mountaineer was the first wind farm in West Virginia, and the largest east of the Mississippi River. Mountaineer Wind Energy Center is owned and operated by Florida Power & Light. Exelon Generation purchases the power produced by Mountaineer and markets it across the Mid-Atlantic region";
the heart of US Coal Country, too, has sufficient Wind power available for generation of the electricity needed, to, in a process exactly like that of our subject, "United States Patent 7,329,099", generate Hydrogen, for whatever purpose, from Water.
And, our Wind potential is sufficient enough to attract someone, i.e., "Florida Power & Light", who, we might otherwise have been led to suspect, would have preferred the "off-shore wind installations" specified by our subject "USP 7,329,099".
That, of course, is all in addition to the hydroelectric potentials which would seem to abound in US Coal Country's Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny foothills.
Finally, speaking of potentials, it's seems to us far past time that the sleeping giant of US Coal Country, centered as she is in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, began to wake up, look around, and realize what her true, and truly vast, energy potentials really are.