United States Patent Application: 0100186291
We have, of course, beaten to death the fact that China, in partnership with a number of notable western partners, including, as just one quick example,:
West Virginia Coal Association | GE Converts China Coal to Methanol | Research & Development; concerning: "One of the World’s Largest Coal-to-Olefins Gasification Units Starts Up in China; August 12, 2010; The gasification unit at one of the world’s largest coal-to-olefins projects successfully started up at the China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Co. Ltd.’s project in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. The gasification unit uses advanced coal gasification technology provided by GE (NYSE:GE)";
General Electric, have embarked on a national program of industrial development targeted on converting their abundant Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals.
We've also documented, that, just as do some western entities of significance, as seen in:
West Virginia Coal Association | California Algae Eliminate Coal-to-Liquid CO2 Emissions | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent Application 20100285576 - Method to Produce Synthesis Gas or Liquid Fuels from Commingled Algae and Coal Feedstock Using a Steam-Hydrogasification Reactor and a Steam Methane Reformer with CO2 Utilization Through an Algae Farm; 2010; Inventors: Joseph M. Norbeck, et. al., CA; (Presumed Assignee: The Regents of the University of California); Government Interests: This invention was made with support from the City of Riverside, Calif. The City of Riverside has certain rights in this invention. This invention involves the conversion of coal-algae ... commingled slurry feedstock into a high methane content product gas using a steam hydrogasification process. This gas is then reformed into synthesis gas (H2 and CO). Excess H2 from the synthesis gas is separated and recycled back to the gasifier. The synthesis gas is converted into a liquid fuel such as Fischer-Tropsch diesel. The CO2 emissions from the steam hydrogasification process can be captured and used to grow the algae, which can subsequently be commingled with coal ... to form slurry feedstocks for the hydrogasifier. Thus, this process eliminates CO2 emissions from the conversion plant";
China, as seen in:
China Coal Conversion Plant Recycle CO2 | Research & Development; concerning: "China Coal-to-Liquid Plant Will Use Algae-based CO2 Capture; 2011; A partnership in China that will bring together a Houston-based coal-to-liquids company and a major Chinese coal and construction firm will utilize a CO2 capture system powered by algae. Accelergy Corporation will provide the Yankuang Group with its trademarked TerraSync terrestrial sequestration system to capture carbon from the future facility in Erdos, an area in China’s Inner Mongolia Province. Along with the TerraSync system, Accelergy will also create a hybrid configuration of a microcatalytic coal liquefaction system in conjunction with a Fischer Tropsch system provided by Yankuang";
plans to utilize, or is utilizing, Algae to capture the CO2 emissions from their Coal conversion plants; and, just as their above-noted mentor, "Accelergy Corporation", about whom we reported in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Coal + Biomass to Liquids, with Algae CO2 Recycling | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent Application 20120144887 - Integrated Coal to Liquids Process and System with CO2 Mitigation Using Algal Biomass; 2012; Assignee: Accelergy Corporation, Houston; Abstract: An ICBTL (Integrated Coal and Biomass To Liquids) system having a low GHG footprint for converting coal or coal and biomass to liquid fuels in which a carbon-based feed is converted to liquids by direct liquefaction and optionally by indirect liquefaction and the liquids are upgraded to produce premium fuels. CO2 produced by the process is used to produce algal biomass and photosynthetic microorganisms in a photobioreactor. Optionally, lipids extracted from the some or all of the algal biomass is hydroprocessed to produce fuel components and biomass residues and the carbon-based feed (are) gasified to produce hydrogen and syngas for the direct and indirect liquefaction processes";
intend doing, will convert that CO2-recycling Algae biomass, along with the Coal, into more liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
We note, of course, that other Carbon Dioxide-recycling cellulosic Biomass, too, in addition to such purpose-grown and CO2-cultivated Algae, as seen in:
Exxon Co-Gasifies Coal and Carbon-Recycling Biomass | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent Application 20100083575 - Co-gasification Process for Hydrocarbon Solids and Biomass; 2010; Assignee: ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company; A process for the co-gasification of carbonaceous solids (coal) and biomass in which ... the solid carbonaceous particles comprise coal (and) wherein the biomass comprises biological matter selected from wood, plant matter, municipal waste, green waste, byproducts of farming or food processing waste, sewage sludge, black liquor from wood pulp, and algae. One established route to the production of hydrocarbon liquids is the gasification of carbonaceous materials followed by the conversion of the produced synthesis gas to form liquids by processes such as Fischer-Tropsch and its variants. In this way, solid fuels such as coal and coke may be converted to liquids";
can be converted right along with Coal into a synthesis gas blend suitable for "the production of hydrocarbon liquids"
All of that is confirmed and consolidated by the reference we bring to your attention herein, as seen in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"US Patent Application 20100186291 - Liquid Fuel Production From Cellulosic Biomass and Coal
Date: July, 2010
Inventors: Hongping Yie, et. al., China and California
Assignee: China Fuel Bioenergy Technology Development Company, Limited, China
Abstract: A liquid fuel production process from Cellulosic biomass and coal comprises providing a mixture of Cellulosic biomass and coal, subjecting the mixture to gasification to obtain synthesis gas and converting the synthesis gas to a liquid fuel under the presence of catalyst. ... Additionally, co-gasification of Cellulosic biomass and coal can reduce the ash fusion temperature of coal.
(There are, thus, as in "reduce the ash fusion temperature of coal", some energy-conserving synergies to be had in co-gasifying a blend of Coal and Biomass.)
Claims: A process of producing fuel from Cellulosic biomass, comprising: the first step, a mixture of Cellulosic biomass and coal is provided; and the second step, the mixture of the first step is gasified to produce a synthesis gas fuel.
A process of producing fuel from Cellulosic biomass ... wherein, the content of the Cellulosic biomass in the first step is 1-99 wt. %, based on the total weight of the mixture ... .
A process of producing fuel from Cellulosic biomass ... wherein, in the second step, the gasification is carried out in the present of a oxygen-containing gas, the oxygen-containing gas is selected from air, pure oxygen or a combination thereof (in an amount based on) the carbon content in the coal and Cellulosic biomass ... .
A process of producing fuel from Cellulosic biomass ... wherein, the liquid fuel ... is methanol and/or ethanol; and/or the conversion of the third step is carried out in the present of catalyst; and/or the synthesis gas fuel of the third step comprises hydrogen and carbon monoxide, wherein the molar ratio of the hydrogen to carbon monoxide is between 1:10 and 10:1.
(As in other of our reports concerning similar technologies, the ratios of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen in the product synthesis gas can be controlled to a large extent; in one way by varying the relative amounts of relatively high-Hydrogen Biomass and low-Hydrogen Coal in the initial feed to the gasifier.)
A process of producing fuel from Cellulosic biomass ... (wherein) said catalyst is a catalytic system comprising molybdenum sulfide ...
(As seen for just one example in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Exxon Liquefies More Coal with Coal Oil and Sulfur | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,111,787 - Staged Hydroconversion of an Oil-Coal Mixture; 1978; Assignee: Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Abstract: A catalytic slurry hydroconversion process for producing normally liquid hydrocarbons from a heavy hydrocarbonaceous oil and from coal is performed in at least two stages in series. The heavy oil is introduced into the first hydroconversion stage and the coal is introduced into any of the hydroconversion stages other than the first stage. The process ... wherein said oil soluble metal compound is converted to said catalyst by (treating) in the presence of ... hydrogen-containing gas (and) wherein said hydrogen-containing gas ... (is comprised of up) to about 90 ... percent hydrogen sulfide. (And) wherein said oil soluble metal compound (used as the catalyst) is molybdenum naphthenate (in other words, a Coal oil, i.e., Naphthalene, salt of molybdenum) or (other metal compounds) wherein said oil soluble metal compound is a salt of naphthenic acid";
Molybdenum and Sulfur are frequently specified for use together as catalysts in various types of Coal conversion technologies. And, as we will document in some reports to follow, some significant effort has been devoted to the development of techniques for recovering the valuable, though not precious, Molybdenum and/or "molybdenum sulfide" from Coal conversion residues.)
A use of Cellulosic biomass in the co-gasification of the Cellulosic biomass and coal for decreasing the ash fusion temperature of the coal.
Background and Field: The present invention relates to a novel process for producing liquid fuel by using Cellulosic biomass as the raw material, more particularly to a process which comprises producing synthesis gas by co-gasifying Cellulosic biomass and coal, followed by producing liquid fuel from the synthesis gas.
Since the beginning of this century, the supply of oil energy sources has arrived at its peaks (and) mankind has to face the most vital turning point in history.
Therefore, new renewable energy sources must be developed and utilized so as to ensure the continuing existence and sustainable development of human beings.
Although the process of producing biomass derived ethanol fuel by fermentation is being widely spread in the field of liquid fuel, the actual application thereof is limited by the two factors as follows: (1) the process of producing ethanol fuel from starch will consume the food for mankind, (2) the cost of the process of producing ethanol fuel from cellulose is far higher than that derived from starch.
The process of producing liquid fuel from coal can be the leading trend since the reserves of coal is much higher than that of oil. Currently, there are two coal liquefaction processes for producing liquid fuel, namely, coal direct liquefaction and indirect liquefaction.
The process of producing methanol by indirect coal liquefaction is usually preferred because of the following reason: the production procedures currently used for preparing methanol fuel from synthesis gas is relatively well developed, and the conditions for coal gasification is much mild than those used for the direct coal liquefaction; the cost for producing methanol through indirect coal liquefaction is less than one third of that for producing ethanol fuel; the combustion value per unit weight of methanol fuel is 76.5% of that of the ethanol fuel; and the corrosive(ness) to engine (components) caused by methanol can be readily resolved.
(Or, as can be learned via:
Mobil Oil Coal to Methanol to Gasoline | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,447,310 - Production of Distillates through Methanol to Gasoline; 1984; Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation; Abstract: A process for producing a wide slate of fuel products from coal is provided by integrating a methanol-to-gasoline conversion process with coal liquefaction and coal gasification (wherein) coal is gasified under oxidation conditions to produce a synthesis gas which is converted to methanol. The methanol is converted to gasoline by contact with a zeolite catalyst";
there are technologies available which can convert the Methanol, made, as by the process or our subject, via gasification, from Coal and Biomass, into Gasoline.)
(The) methanol, ethanol, and the derivates thereof derived from Cellulosic biomass (and) coal ... will necessarily become the dominant liquid fuel in the near future.
The process currently used for producing methanol through indirect coal liquefaction mainly comprises two steps as follows: in the first step, the coal is gasified to produce synthesis gas, and in the second step, the synthesis gas is converted into methanol in the presence of catalyst. Relatively developed coal gasification process mainly comprises the gasification of solid coal powder feedstock and the gasification of aqueous coal slurry feedstock. The process of gasification of aqueous coal slurry feedstock is more homogeneous and highly reliable, so the yield of synthesis can be more readily enhanced by carrying out the gasification under high pressure. Therefore, the process of the gasification of aqueous coal slurry feedstock is generally adopted, while the gasification of solid coal powder feedstock is ... operated by some manufacturers. However, the process of producing methanol through indirect coal liquefaction still possesses the following drawbacks that need to be improved:
First of all, since the coal is generally rich in carbon but lack of hydrogen, the composition of the synthesis gas derived from most types of coal is far lower than the ratio required for producing methanol (hydrogen:carbon monoxide=2:1). The methods previously used for solving above problem comprises:
(1) installing a separate production line for generating hydrogen from coal so as to supplement the hydrogen;
(2) installing a separate converter in the gasification process for converting carbon monoxide into hydrogen by reacting carbon monoxide and water to produce carbon dioxide and hydrogen) so as to supplement.
However, both of the above methods still include the limitations of increasing the cost and the complexity of the process, and consumption of water and coal. It is well known that the short supply of water will be more and more severe in the future. The difficulties in gasification is even more severe for some types of coal, such as the coal produced from the Eastern China, which not only are rich in carbon and lack of hydrogen but also comprise excessive ash content with high ash fusion temperature (1500C or even higher), etc.
Secondly, in addition to the above drawbacks, many types of coal will bring about the problem of extremely high energy consumption when used for producing methanol through indirect coal liquefaction. In the process of coal gasification, the liquid slag-tapping is generally preferred, and the liquid slag-tapping from the lower-part is more preferred for the sake of easiness in operation. The optimal operation temperature for the liquid slag-tapping furnace is usually 30-50C higher than the ash fusion temperature, that is, the optimal operation temperature of coal gasifying for the slag-tapping furnace is usually at least about 1550C when the ash fusion temperature is higher than 1500C or more. When carrying out the coal gasification reaction under such a high temperature, the energy consumption as well as the rate of the reaction between hydrogen and carbon to produce methanol and ethanol will be rapidly increased, and the virtual specific yield of gas will decrease. Furthermore, if the operation temperature is higher than 1400C, the fusion corrosion rate of firebrick will double every the temperature increasing 20C. When the operation temperature is 1550C, the firebrick will have to be replaced more frequently because of its high fusion corrosion rate, which will severely enhance the cost of production.
(Know a lot about the little details of converting Coal into liquid hydrocarbons, don't they? We hope we've got some folks around here in Coal Country who have put a little effort into getting up to that kind of speed on the subject. Actually, we're certain we do; but, no one, apparently, has felt motivated enough by their concerns for the economic and social health of Coal Country to look them up and ask them about it.)
The conventional technical solution aimed to solve the problem is to incorporate calcium oxide (calcium carbonate), ferric oxide, or magnesium oxide (magnesium carbonate), etc. therein to decrease the ash fusion temperature. However, since the amount of calcium oxide incorporated therein is generally 20-25% based on the total amount of the ash, above solution will substantially increase the output of ash. Meanwhile, the cost will be excessively high by using sodium carbonate or potassium carbonate. Every time the ash content is increased by 1%, the consumption of oxygen and coal will increase by about 0.8% and 1.5%, respectively. Therefore, the production cost will be further enhanced and the specific yield will be further lowered. Besides, the incorporation of fluxing agent of calcium oxide will result in black water treatment and severe fouling of the thermal-exchange system, rendering great increase of the total production cost.
In additional to synthesizing methanol liquid fuel, the synthesis gas can also be used for producing other liquid fuel such as ethanol. The chemical mechanism of producing ethanol from synthesis gas is similar with the mechanism of producing methanol. Accordingly, the catalyst used for producing methanol can be used as a basis and modified to obtain the catalyst used for producing ethanol. Besides, the reaction equipments used for the process of producing ethanol may be the same with the reaction equipments used for the methanol with tiny variation, which is mainly because the process of producing ethanol will emits more heat (about 2.5 times of the process of producing methanol), thus the reaction vessel has to be modified so that the heat can be dissipated rapidly.
(As we've documented previously, the catalytic condensation of hydrocarbons from Coal-derived synthesis gas is an exothermic reaction; and, it generates heat energy that can be harvested and utilized to promote other steps in the total process, with consequent economies.)
Summary: One object of the present invention is to provide a highly effective novel process of producing synthesis gas and liquid fuel by using a combination of coal and Cellulosic biomass.
The novel process effectively takes advantage of coal which is rich in carbon and lack of hydrogen as well as the Cellulosic biomass which is rich in hydrogen and lack of carbon, so that synthesis gas having composition approaching the optimal ratio for producing alcohol products, such as methanol and ethanol can be obtained by an one-step gasification.
In one aspect of the present invention, a process for producing fuel from the Cellulosic biomass is provided, wherein the process comprises the following steps:
the first step, a mixture of cellulose and coal is provided; and
the second step, the mixture of the first step is gasified to produce a synthesis gas fuel.
In one particular embodiment of the invention, the process of producing fuel from the Cellulosic biomass of the present invention comprises the following steps: the first step, a mixture of cellulose and coal at a proper ratio is provided, wherein the "proper ratio" means that said mixture will exhibit lower ash fusion temperature and the combustion value meeting the requirement on the efficiency of the gasification furnace; the second step, the mixture of the first step is gasified to produce a synthesis gas, wherein the sulfur content in the synthesis gas is notably lower than that of the synthesis gas produced by solely using coal. The synthesis gas of the present invention can be solely used as fuel, namely synthesis gas fuel.
(Or, in) the third step, the synthesis gas fuel produced ... will be converted into ... methanol and/or ethanol".
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Some further explanation seems warranted.
Though not reflected in our excerpts, the inventors provide formulas illustrating the results of gasifying Coal with varying amounts of their seemingly-favored representative "Cellulosic biomass", i.e., "broomcorn stalk", and, in sum, for one example, the addition of 20% "broomcorn stalk" to the Coal feed results in the production of a hydrocarbon synthesis gas consisting of 36.5% Carbon Monoxide, 50.5% Hydrogen, and only 5.0% Carbon Dioxide, with a few other minor odds and ends tossed in.
Our speculation is that the 20% by weight of "broomcorn stalk", or other cellulosic biomass, say the remains of Algae after their oil had been extracted, would itself be at least half Carbon - Carbon that had been extracted, via photosynthesis, by the "broomcorn stalk", from the atmosphere.
And, thus, at least 10% of the weight of the total Coal/Biomass feed would be recycled Carbon Dioxide; while the product of the gasification of that feed would contain only 5% Carbon Dioxide.
There thus could be, in the process of our subject, "US Patent Application 20100186291 - Liquid Fuel Production From Cellulosic Biomass and Coal", a significant net, albeit indirect, consumption of Carbon Dioxide.
The potential content of Carbon Dioxide would be regenerated, of course, when the liquid fuels were, ultimately, combusted.
But, there seems little reason, other than economics, why the proportional amount of Biomass in the initial feed couldn't be increased, thus increasing the amount of CO2 recycled into Ethanol and Methanol.
And, if the Biomass arose from a process like that described in the above-cited "United States Patent Application 20120144887 - Integrated Coal to Liquids Process and System with CO2 Mitigation Using Algal Biomass"; and, if a calculated portion of the Ethanol and Methanol were directed, as they can be, into the synthesis not of liquid fuel, but of various plastics, where the original CO2 would be forever, and productively, "sequestered", then we really might have something going.
We ain't going to get anything going, though, until we, all of us, learn that we can get something going.
Anyone - - any common folk out there in US Coal Country waiting and wanting to learn the facts, openly and fully explained in your Coal Country public news outlets - - still suppose that'll ever actually happen?
That old candle of faith sure is a tough one to keep lit sometimes, ain't it?
