Energy Citations Database (ECD) - - Document #775227
We've previously documented the work of Penn State University, in developing improved methods for converting Coal into high-grade aviation fuels that have properties far superior to conventional aviation fuels made from petroleum.
Our reports have included:
West Virginia Coal Association | Penn State Jet Fuel from Coal | Research & Development; concerning: "Coal Tar ... As Feedstocks For ... Jet Fuel; 1999; Authors: S. Butnark, M. Badger, H. Schobert; Affiliation: The Pennsylvania State University; Abstract: Coal tar pitch, a by-product of the metallurgical coke industry, is made up of volatile compounds (which have the) ability to be upgraded ... and ... have been shown to contribute towards high fuel stability. It has been found that high thermal stability hydro-aromatic ... compounds are desirable components for advanced jet fuels. As a result, coal tar pitch distillates, which can be converted into those structures under hydro-treatment process, are chosen again for jet fuel production. ... (and we thus) need to protect and extend the lifetime of coal tar (availability) as a resource for advanced thermally stable jet fuel production";
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Pays Penn State to Recycle Coal Jet Fuel By-Products | Research & Development; concerning: "Refinery Integration of By-Products from Coal-Derived Jet Fuels; May, 2007; USDOE Contract Number: FC26-03NT41828; Caroline Burgess Clifford, Andre Boehman, Chunsan Song, et. al.; The Pennsylvania State University; Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; Abstract: This report summarizes the accomplishments toward project goals during the no cost extension period of the third year of the project to assess the properties and performance of coal based products. These products are in the gasoline, diesel and fuel oil range and result from coal based jet fuel production from an Air Force funded program"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Penn State Seeks US Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Patent | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20080256852 - Process ... for Producing Coal-based Jet, Diesel and Distillate Fuels; 2008; Inventor: Harold H. Schobert, State College, PA; Abstract: Coal-based jet fuel, diesel fuel and/or distillate fuels are produced by selectively introducing a coal-based product directly into the petroleum refinery process flow to thereby create an integrated refinery process for producing the distillate fuels".
Herein, we submit to you what is, perhaps, record of the source work from which the above originated; an effort undertaken at Penn State University over the course of some years, a decade and a half ago; an effort sponsored by the United States Department of Energy.
Comment and additional links and excerpts follow excerpts from the initial link to:
22 Mb View Document or Access Individual Pages; DOI: 10.2172/775227
"Advanced Thermally Stable Jet Fuels
Author: H.H. Schobert;
Date: January, 1999
OSTI ID: 775227; Report Number: DE--FG22-92PC92104-08; DOE Contract: FG22-92PC92104
Research Organization: Federal Energy Technology Center, Morgantown, WV; (and) Federal Energy Technology Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy
Abstract: The Pennsylvania State University program in advanced thermally stable coal-based jet fuels has five broad objectives: (1) Development of mechanisms of degradation and solids formation; (2) Quantitative measurement of growth of sub-micrometer and micrometer-sized particles suspended in fuels during thermal stressing; (3) Characterization of carbonaceous deposits by various instrumental and microscopic methods; (4) Elucidation of the role of additives in retarding the formation of carbonaceous solids; (5) Assessment of the potential of production of high yields of cycloalkanes by direct liquefaction of coal.
Future high-Mach aircraft will place severe thermal demands on jet fuels, requiring the development of novel, hybrid fuel mixtures capable of withstanding temperatures in the range of 400--500 C. In the new aircraft, jet fuel will serve as both an energy source and a heat sink for cooling the airframe, engine, and system components. The ultimate development of such advanced fuels requires a thorough understanding of the thermal decomposition behavior of jet fuels under supercritical conditions. Considering that jet fuels consist of hundreds of compounds, this task must begin with a study of the thermal degradation behavior of select model compounds under supercritical conditions.
The research performed by The Pennsylvania State University was focused on five major tasks that reflect the objectives stated above:
Task 1: Investigation of the Quantitative Degradation of Fuels;
Task 2: Investigation of Incipient Deposition;
Task 3: Characterization of Solid Gums, Sediments, and Carbonaceous Deposits;
Task 4: Coal-Based Fuel Stabilization Studies; and:
Task 5: Exploratory Studies on the Direct Conversion of Coal to High Quality Jet Fuels."
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We keep our excerpts exquisitely brief since the full document is, in a technical sense, blindingly dense.
The Executive Summary alone is twenty pages long. And, none of it comes right out and recommends that we start immediately converting Coal into Jet Fuel. It simply explains how we can, if we want to, economically convert our abundant domestic Coal into a Jet Fuel that outperforms, by most measures, the Jet Fuel we now buy the raw materials for from places like Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
If anyone out there - - we here are beginning to doubt that there is - - does in fact think that might be a reasonably good thing to consider actually doing, apparently some forward-thinking and progressive people in our US Government agree, since, following, with additional comment appended, is a link to and excerpts from what seems to be a follow-on, more recent project to further refine the technology:
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/
"Annual Report For: Contract No. FA9550-06-1-0476; Advanced Thermally Stable Coal-Based Jet Fuels
July 1,2007-June 30, 2008
Submitted by: Harold Schobert, Principal Investigator
The contract year 7/I/2007-6/30/2008 represented a no-cost extension on the original contract. Work was continued on the use of solvent extraction of coal to produce a material suitable for further hydrotreating to the coal-based JP-8 fuel. This switch to solvent extraction instead of relying on the refined chemical oil used previously is in full agreement with recommendations provided by RAND.
Exploratory work was begun to evaluate the possible production of nuclear graphite from the by-products of co-coking. This would allow use of distillation residua rather than decant oil as feed to the coker, again in agreement with RAND's recommendations. A very solid hypothesis was developed, indicating that the mechanisms of oxidative deposit formation in diesel and jet fuels are the same. This has been backed up with experimental evidence. Work was conducted to compare measurements of the flame response function made in a laboratory-scale lean direct injection combustor operating on Jet-A fuel and a coal-derived JP-8 fuel. The flame response function is determined from ... measurements of the fuel-flow rate modulation and the resulting fluctuation of the flame's rate of heat release.
Completion of this work will await the next pilot-scale run of producing coal-derived JP-8.
Name of Responsible Person: Julian M.Tishkoff; 703-696-8478."
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You will note that we have included the phone number of the "Responsible Person" for this project, in the now increasingly-unlikely event that we actually have a responsible person among our Coal Country press corps, at least one responsible enough to their Coal Country readership to give ole' Julian a ring and say:
"Hey, about this Coal-to-Jet Fuel thing ... wha's up?"
We took the liberty of doing that, since we seriously, truly doubt now that Julian will be inconvenienced by a flood, or even a trickle, of bothersome calls.
But, the gist of it all is, that:
In the decade of the 1990's, Penn State University demonstrated that we could make perfectly-acceptable, even higher-performing, Jet Fuel, using, in part, existing petroleum refinery practices and infrastructure, out of our abundant Coal.
So encouraged by those results were certain responsible, but publicity-shy, people in our US Government, that they sagely started paying Penn State more of our public tax money to further that very good cause, and to make the whole technology even better.
But, just how good, we must ask, does it have to get before any of us unworthy Coal Country commoners, mining away down here, in the dark pits of sub-par employment and foreign oil financial extortion, even get to be publicly informed of it?