Production of gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide
We've documented in a few previous reports, which include:
WV DuPont 1954 Coal and Steam to Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development; which concerns: "United States Patent 2,698,227 - Preparation of Synthesis Gases from Carbonaceous Solids; 1954; Inventor: Luther Peery, et. al., Charleston, WV; Assignee: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company; This invention relates to a process for the preparation of synthesis gases by the partial oxidation of comminuted solid carbonaceous materials, and is more particularly directed to the preparation of ... gaseous mixtures containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide by the partial oxidation of powdered coal"; and,
WV 1955 Hydrogen & Syngas from Coal | Research & Development; which makes report of: "United States Patent 2,699,384 - Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen from Carbonaceous Solids; 1955; Inventors: Luther Perry, et. al., Charleston, WV; Assignee: E.I. DuPont and Company; This invention ... is more particularly directed to the preparation of hydrogen ... and gaseous mixtures containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide (from) coal";
that we have known, in one of the very hearts of United States Coal Country, for more than half a century, how to efficiently and thoroughly convert some of our abundant Coal into what are known as "synthesis gases", that is, "gaseous mixtures containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide".
We'll again explain and document what can be done with such "synthesis gases", following excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch, documenting how technologies for the production of them, from Coal, at the very same time such technologies were being proven in Charleston, WV, were also being demonstrated by a once-major component of the US petroleum industry, in Pittsburgh, PA:
"United States Patent 2,694,047 - Production of Gas Comprising Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide
Date: November, 1954
Inventor: Edwin M. Glazier, PA
Assignee: Gulf Research and Development Company, Pittsburgh
Abstract: This invention relates to the production of a gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide at a superatmospheric pressure. More particularly, it relates to the production of a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide at superatmospheric pressure from a fluidized mixture of steam and coal.
(We must interject here to emphasize what is, actually, an important improvement being hinted at. The use of "superatmospheric pressure" actually helps to drive, or force, the reaction between Coal and H2O. The point of that being that the Coal doesn't have to be reacted with any free Oxygen to drive the process; which does two things: It removes the extra expense of providing purified Oxygen, which purified Oxygen would prevent the wasteful formation of unwanted Nitrogen Oxides, if plain Air were used instead; and, as importantly, it minimizes the co-production of Carbon Dioxide, since the supply of Oxygen, all coming as it is from H2O, is restricted. Providing a "superatmospheric pressure" reaction vessel would entail some additional expense; but, such vessels are, especially as a result of all the effort that has gone into the development of nuclear power, well understood by industrial and chemical engineers; and, could nowadays be considered to be almost "off the shelf".)
A gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide at a superatmospheric pressure, such as a pressure in excess of 100 pounds per square inch, has many uses depending chiefly upon the relative amouunts of hydrogen and carbon monoxide which are present in the gas.
As an example, a gas ... containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the mole ration of about 1:1 to 3:1 can be used as a synthesis gas in synthesis processes such as the Fischer-Tropsch process, especially if the gas is at a superatmospheric pressure in excess of about 100 pounds per square inch.
I have found that a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be produced at superatmospheric pressure by reacting powdered coal and steam in a reaction zone at a superatmospheric reaction pressure and under conditions such that powdered coal is fluidized and all of the heat needed to maintain a desired reaction temperature is introduced as sensible heat of the reactants.
(We're told by one of our fully-functioning and knowledgeable consultants that "sensible heat", as above, just means heat energy that can be "sensed", i.e. measured on a thermometer. That, as opposed to "latent heat", which is heat energy which might be being absorbed by, or moving around or transferred within, a system, without a change in measurable temperature, as inside a piece of melting ice. Such "sensible heat" can be transferred, and, the gist of Gulf's technology is that all of the heat energy needed to drive the reaction is brought in by the reactants; i.e., just Coal, perhaps, as Gulf does in other passages suggest, warmed up a bit, and, of course, "superatmospheric", and, thus, presumably, "superheated", Steam. No combustion, partial or otherwise, and thus no attendant co-generation of Carbon Dioxide, is needed.)
When it is desired to produce a product gas containing an appreciable amount of carbon monoxide ... the reactants introduced into the reaction zone comprise powdered coal, steam, and recycled synthesis gas which has previously been produced in the process.
Claims: A process for continuously producing a gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide (from) powdered coal ... and a heated gas comprising steam."
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Again, all that's needed by Gulf's process herein, aside from one or two high-pressure vessels, to make a blend of CO2-free Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen, is Steam and hot Coal.
Gulf does suggest that we could simply burn some Coal, outside the reactor, to provide the heat and the pressurized Steam; but, there are other, CO2-free and Coal-conserving, options.
As seen in:
New Martinsville | American Municipal Power; which relates that: "New Martinsville (WV) owns and operates the New Martinsville Hydroelectric Plant at the Hannibal Locks and Dam. New Martinsville is one of only two municipal electric systems in West Virginia. At the time of its construction in 1988, its twin bulb turbine generators were among the largest in the world. Each is capable of creating 18 MW of hydroelectric power, enough to power seven cities the size of New Martinsville"; and, in:
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; concerning the: "Mountaineer Wind Energy Center ... a wind farm ... in Preston and Tucker counties in the US state of West Virginia (which) is the first wind farm in West Virginia and the largest east of the Mississippi River. (The) power produced by Mountaineer (is marketed) across the Mid-Atlantic region";
we do have some Coal Country potentials for the, what could be site- and use-specific, generation of Carbon Dioxide-free electricity which could be employed for any necessary heating of Coal and generation of Steam.
As an aside, we do remind you that Pittsburgh's Gulf Oil has, or had, a long history of Coal conversion technology development, as documented, for just a few examples, in our separate reports of:
Pittsburgh Gulf Oil 1953 CoalTL | Research & Development; wherein we made report of: "United States Patent 2,654,675 - Process for Preparing Liquid Hydrocarbons from Coal; 1953; Assignee: Gulf Research and Development Company, Pittsburgh; This invention involves an improved combination of steps for preparing liquid hydrocarbon fuels from coal"; and:
Gulf Oil's Self-Powered Coal Liquefaction | Research & Development; which concerns the: "United States Patent 4,227,991 - Coal Liquefaction Process with a Plurality of Feed Coals; 1980; Assignee: Gulf Oil Corporation, Pittsburgh; Abstract: In a coal liquefaction process including recycle to the liquefaction zone ... the catalytic advantage of recycle solids is increased".
Finally, we must again point out what can be done with a relatively pure, and CO2-free, blend of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen, as can be so efficiently obtained, via Gulf Oil's process of our subject, "United States Patent 2,694,047", from pressurized Steam and hot Coal.
As seen in just one previous example of our reports documenting the fact:
Standard Oil 1941 Improvements in Syngas Processing | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,266,161 - Process for Reacting Hydrogen and Oxides of Carbon; 1941; Assignee: Standard Oil Development Company; Abstract: This invention is more particularly directed to a process involving reactions between carbon monoxide and hydrogen, such as the production of methanol and other alcohols, 'synthol' and similar mixtures of liquid hydrocarbons";
it had been known, by the time Gulf Oil's "United States Patent 2,694,047" was issued, in the United States petroleum industry, and within certain branches of our United States Government, for more than a decade, that: such blends of Coal-derived Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen could themselves be efficiently converted into "methanol and ... liquid hydrocarbons".
How is it, we must wonder, that such exciting news, which basically originated in the Ohio River Valley cradle of US Coal Country, has taken more than half a century to actually echo back, from Washington, DC, to US Coal Country?
And, keep in mind: That news, for all practical and public purposes, and for whatever implausible and inexcusable reasons, still ain't here yet.