Actually, the California rocket scientists in our headline are both gasifying and liquefying Coal through direct, controlled reactions of Coal with elemental Hydrogen.
We know that the use of elemental, molecular Hydrogen sounds expensive, and likely is.
But, as we recently reported in:
Standard Oil Converts Coal with Methane and Hydrogen | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,326,944 - Rapid Hydropyrolysis of Carbonaceous Solids; 1982; Assignee: Standard Oil Company of Indiana; Abstract: A method is disclosed for recovering liquids and gases by a rapid hydropyrolysis of carbonaceous solids";
its employment in the direct hydrogenation of Coal can result in significant production efficiencies and an improved mix of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon products derived from the Coal.
And, as we've also been reporting, as, for just one example, in:
More NASA Hydrogen from Water and Sunlight | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,051,005 - Photolytic Production of Hydrogen; 1977; Assignee: United Technologies Corporation; Government Interests: The invention described herein was made in the course of a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Abstract: Hydrogen and oxygen are produced from water in a process involving the photo-dissociation of molecular bromine with radiant energy at wavelengths within the visible light region";
there have been some significant advancements made in the efficient generation of Hydrogen from Water.
We note as well that we have previously reported on the Coal conversion achievements of the California team of scientists, whose work is the focus of this dispatch, as in:
USA's Rockwell Liquefies Coal | Research & Development; concerning: "Liquefaction of Bituminous Coal at Moderate Temperatures;
Rockwell International, Rocketdyne Division; 6633 Canoga Avenue, Canoga Park, CA;
1987"; and:
Rockwell International & Hydropyrolysis of Coal - 1978 | Research & Development | News; concerning: "Coal conversion by flash hydropyrolysis and hydrogasification; Rockwell International Corp., Rocketdyne Division; CA; 1978; Abstract: Results are described from two programs directed toward development of high-mass-flux, short-residence-time reactors for conversion of coal into high-value gases and liquids".
Herein, through a series of three, sequential United States Patents attesting to the fact, we learn that Rockwell International went on to establish a technology centered on that described in the above "Coal conversion by flash hydropyrolysis and hydrogasification"; a technology very similar that developed by Standard Oil and disclosed in their "US Patent 4,326,944 - Rapid Hydropyrolysis of Carbonaceous Solids".
As seen in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch, with two additional links and excerpts following:
"United States Patent 4,169,128 - Coal Liquefaction Apparatus
Date: September, 1979
Inventor: Jerry Sinor, et. al., California
Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation, El Segundo
Abstract: Disclosure is made of an apparatus for reacting carbonaceous material with heated hydrogen to form hydrocarbon gases and liquids suitable for conversion to fuels wherein the reaction involves injection of carbonaceous material such as pulverized coal entrained in a minimum amount of gas and mixing the entrained coal at near ambient temperature with a separate source of heated hydrogen. The hydrogen is heated in a coil having an increasing inside diameter. The heated hydrogen and entrained coal are injected through a rocket engine type injector device. The coal particles are reacted with hydrogen in a reaction chamber downstream of the injector. The products of reaction are rapidly quenched as they exit the reaction chamber and are subsequently collected.
Claims: An apparatus for reacting a carbonaceous material with hydrogen to produce hydrocarbon liquids and gases which (includes) electrical heating means for heating said source of hydrogen.
Background and Field: This invention relates to the field of coal conversion to form hydrocarbon liquids suitable for conversion to fuels.
More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus for reacting pulverized coal with heated hydrogen to form hydrocarbon liquids suitable for conversion to fuels or for use as a chemical feedstock.
The problem is to react coal directly with hydrogen in such a way as to maximize the yield of liquid products. A number of researchers have shown that at the beginning of coal pyrolysis a transient period exists for a few tenths of a second where the coal is highly reactive toward hydrogen. If excess hydrogen is not available during this period, some of the free-radical pyrolytic fragments will strip molecular hydrogen from the aromatic groups while other fragments will polymerize to form unreactive char. The overall effect is a limited yield of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, and a large yield of char. If instead, excess hydrogen is present during the critical transient period, many more hydrogenated fragments that are amenable to still further hydrogenation are produced. The overall effect of pyrolysis in hydrogen is a much larger yield of liquids and gases, and a lower char yield.
It is generally well known the conversion of coal to liquid or gaseous fuels is achieved by the addition of hydrogen.
Although the chemistry of coal pyrolysis and hydrogenation has been apparent for some time, no well-developed reactor exists which efficiently utilizes the rapid-reaction regime. Some of the basic reasons for this appear to be a lack of adequate gas/solid injection and mixing technology, difficulty in meeting chemistry and residence time requirements, and agglomeration and plugging of the reactor. Hydrogenation of raw bituminous coal usually results in agglomeration, so that typical fluidized bed or moving bed reactors cannot be used as heretofore described. In addition, the requirement of short residence time (less than 1 sec) necessarily restricts the reactor to an entrained flow type. By maintaining rapid mixing, heat-up, and reaction of the coal near the point of injection and hot reactor walls, the agglomeration problem can be avoided. The uniform and precise mixing of extremely large feed streams in time of a few milliseconds is the special accomplishment of large rocket engine injectors and one of the principal objects of the present invention.
Summary: It is an object of this invention to convert carbonaceous material entrained in a gas in a dense phase to hydrocarbon liquids and gases by hydrogenating the coal particles.
More particularly, it is an object of this invention to utilize rocket engine injection and mixing techniques in an entrained flow reactor to rapidly mix and react a separate stream of heated hydrogen with a dense phase stream of carbonaceous material at ambient temperature to produce liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons."
----------------------
Make no mistake: They are describing a method whereby Coal and Hydrogen can be directly reacted in an intense environment to produce, at an extremely high rate and in extremely large volumes, hydrocarbons.
We've all seen broadcasts of the Apollo and Space Shuttle launches. Think of the huge, billowing tails of exhaust spewing out the back ends of those projectiles; and, consider that those vast clouds of vapor could, instead, via the technology disclosed herein by Rockwell, be hydrocarbon liquids and gases formed through the reactions between Coal and heated Hydrogen.
It is, in fact, an adaptation of rocket engine combustion technology they are describing, in the high-pressure, high-velocity forced reaction between hot Hydrogen and ambient-temperature Coal.
The production volume and rate could be enormous; and, after what would no doubt be an extremely high capital investment, the efficiencies would be limited only by our ability to supply enough Coal and Hydrogen to feed the process.
So encouraged were Rockwell by those potentials, that they went on to further refine the concept, as in:
"United States Patent: 4243509 - Coal Hydrogenation
Date: January, 1981
Inventor: Jerry Sinor, CO
Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation, CA
Abstract: Disclosure is made of a method and apparatus for reacting carbonaceous material such as pulverized coal with heated hydrogen to form hydrocarbon gases and liquids suitable for conversion to fuels wherein the reaction involves injection of pulverized coal entrained in a minimum amount of gas and mixing the entrained coal at ambient temperature with a separate source of heated hydrogen. The heated hydrogen and entrained coal are injected through a rocket engine type injector device. The coal particles are reacted with hydrogen in a reaction chamber downstream of the injector. The products of reaction are rapidly quenched as they exit the reaction chamber and are subsequently collected.
Claims: A process of reacting a pulverized carbonaceous material with hydrogen at a desired hydrogenation reaction temperature in a single reaction zone to form desired gaseous and liquid hydrocarbon reaction products ... wherein said pulverized carbonaceous material is coal and is introduced at substantially ambient temperature.
(Note: Quite importantly, only the Hydrogen gas needs to be heated. Given that the Hydrogen would have far, far less mass than the Coal, the energy required to accomplish the heating would be much, much less than would be needed to heat the Coal, and, then, to react it with something like Steam in alternative gasification processes we have previously documented, as, for one example, in:
Wyoming 1970 Coal + H20 = Hydrocarbons | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 3,505,204 - Direct Conversion of Carbonaceous Material to Hydrocarbons; 1970; The University of Wyoming; Abstract: Coal (is) converted directly to hydrocarbons ... by reacting (it) with steam ... . The present invention ... relates to ... converting materials such as coal ... to hydrocarbons ... in a one-stage reaction with steam. It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the direct conversion of carbonaceous materials into hydrocarbons. The condensed hydrocarbon liquid ... may be further refined according to conventional refinery procedures to yield gasoline and diesel fuels".
Further, the use of elemental Hydrogen would result in immense economies in the further refining of the liquids and gases produced, since there is very, very little Oxygen entrained in the process, thus limiting the co-production both of Carbon Oxides and of oxygenated hydrocarbons, i.e., alcohols.)
Background and Field: This invention relates to the field of coal conversion to form hydrocarbon gases and liquids suitable for conversion to fuels.
More particularly, this invention relates to reacting carbonaceous material such as pulverized coal with heated hydrogen to form hydrocarbon gases and liquids suitable for conversion to fuels or for use as a chemical feedstock.
Summary: It is an object of this invention to convert coal particles entrained in a gas in a dense phase to hydrocarbon liquids and gases by hydrogenating the coal particles.
More particularly, it is an object of this invention to utilize rocket engine injection and mixing techniques in an entrained flow reactor to rapidly mix and react a separate stream of heated hydrogen with a dense phase stream of pulverized coal at ambient temperature to produce liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.
It is yet another object of this invention to build and operate a high-temperature, coal liquefaction reactor which minimizes secondary oil and tar decomposition reactions by optimum control of gas-phase residence time, and prevents reactor plugging from coal agglomeration by very rapid dispersion and reaction of the coal while maintaining the internal reactor wall at high temperature."
------------------------
Again, the production rates could be enormous; and, due to the way the Coal and the Hydrogen are being reacted, there would be very little heavy "tar" co-produced, which would require further expensive treatment.
To conclude Rockwell's Coal conversion triple play, we see, following, that they went on to put a final polish on their application of space age technology to the processing of our ancient fossil fuel, in:
"United States Patent: 4323538 - Hydrogenation Apparatus
Date: April, 1982
Inventor: Jerry Sinor, CO
Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation, CA
(A note about Rockwell: They fell victim to, perhaps, too much growth; and, too many acquisitions and too many diversifications; and, split apart through spin-offs and divestitures in the late 1990's. Their "Rocketdyne" corporate properties and assets, of which we believe these United States Patents to be a part, were acquired by Boeing. For more info, visit:Rockwell International - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Abstract: An apparatus for reacting carbonaceous material such as pulverized coal with heated hydrogen to form hydrocarbon gases and liquids suitable for conversion to fuels wherein the reaction involves injection of pulverized coal entrained in a minimum amount of gas and mixing the entrained coal at ambient temperature with a separate source of heated hydrogen. The heated hydrogen and entrained coal are injected through a rocket engine type injector device. The coal particles are reacted with hydrogen in a reaction chamber downstream of the injector. The products of reaction are rapidly quenched as they exit the reacting chamber and are subsequently collected.
Claims: A hydrogenation apparatus having a single reaction chamber for reacting hydrogen and a pulverized carbonaceous material at a desired hydrogenation reaction temperature to form desired gaseous and liquid hydrocarbon reaction products.
The apparatus ... sufficient to provide a high entrained flow cross-sectional throughput through said reaction zone of not less than about 33,000 lbs./hr. ft.2 of pulverized carbonaceous material in said hot hydrogen."
----------------------
We'll close our excerpts there so that we can offer some final notes about productivity:
As specified immediately above, this unit will hydrogenate and process slightly more than the proverbial 16 tons of Coal, per hour, through each square foot of reactor cross-section.
Due to strength limitations of hot metals, it might not be feasible to build and operate a single reactor much larger than that; but, such one-foot square tubular reactors could certainly be ganged; and, thus, a bundle of those reactors roughly the size, in cross-section, of your average mobile home kitchen floor - we counted tiles - could process 1,600 tons of Coal per hour, more than 38,000 tons of Coal per day, and, thus, in theory, very nearly 14 million tons of Coal per year.
The amount of hydrocarbon liquids and gases so produced, as measured in their volumetric standards of gallons and cubic feet, and which products are much lower in density than the solid Coal, would be, well, enormous.
West Virginia, and the rest of United States Coal Country, could cause the appearance of more stories like:
"Norway's Frontline, which operates the world's largest oil tanker fleet, announced an 81-percent decline in net income for the first quarter (of 2011)";
and, fewer like:
Landowners fight eminent domain in Pa. gas field (OneNewsNow.com): "A pipeline operator assured federal regulators it would minimize using eminent domain against private landowners if given approval to lay a 39-mile natural gas pipeline in northern Pennsylvania's pristine Endless Mountains. Yet the company was readying condemnation papers against dozens of landowners even as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was considering its application for the $250 million MARC 1 pipeline. Within two days of winning approval, Central New York Oil & Gas Co., LLC went to court to condemn nearly half the properties along the pipeline's route - undercutting part of the regulatory commission's approval rationale and angering landowners who are now fighting the company in court".
We might have to build a few more hopper cars and barges to haul our Coal; but, the rail lines and the locks and dams are already in place; and, no one would be forced to give up their land, or even their homes, to private corporations who have, somehow, been handed the governmental power of empire.
And, since anyone who might want to build a Coal conversion unit the size of a Saturn booster rocket along the Rockwell designs likely won't have that monopolistic power of eminent domain; they would have to negotiate, and pay fairly, for the land they need.
Maybe there's a sizeable plot along a major Coal Country river somewhere, that wishful lawmakers have had their eyes on for an Ethane cracker that's always rumored to be, but most probably never is, coming.