We have so far, over the years, presented you with a number of reports documenting that the technology and industrial knowledge needed to convert our abundant Coal into gasoline and other liquid hydrocarbon fuels was being established, or was at least being recorded and claimed, by a company in one of the hearts of US Coal Country at the same time it was being developed and reduced to large-scale industrial operation in one of the sadly infamous practitioners of the art, Germany.
For some background on Germany's war-time use of Coal in the synthesis of hydrocarbon fuels, have a look, as published by the University of Kentucky's Center for Applied Energy Research, at:
http://www.caer.uky.edu/energeia/PDF/vol12_5.pdf; "'Germany's Synthetic Fuel Industry 1927 to 1945'; Anthony N. Stranges; Department of History, Texas A&M University".
In any case, as we've noted previously, Germany's industrialization of it's Coal-to-Liquid fuels technologies shouldn't have come as any surprise to the US Government, especially since a German company, through it's American offices in Pittsburgh, PA, was busily at work establishing the documented facts of the matter.
As we've reported, for just a few examples, in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Pittsburgh & Germany 1940 Coal & Steam to Hydrocarbons | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,220,357 - Synthetical Production of Liquid Hydrocarbons; 1940; Inventor: Michael Steinschlager, Germany; Assignee: Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, PA; Abstract: This invention relates to the synthetical production of liquid hydrocarbons by reacting gases containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide ... which are made by) alternate blows of air and ... steam through ... carbonaceous fuel"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Pittsburgh 1941 Improvements in Coal Syngas Processing | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,244,710 - The Manufacture of Hydrocarbons from Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen; 1941; Inventor: Herbert Kolbel, Germany; Assignee: Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, PA; The present invention relates to the manufacture of hydrocarbon mixtures suitable for use as motor fuel or as lubricating means, by the reaction of a gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Pittsburgh 1941 CO2 + Methane = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,266,989 - Manufacture of a Gas from CO2 and Methane; 1941; Inventor: Max Radtke, Germany; Assignee: Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, PA; Abstract: The present invention relates to the manufacture of gases suitable for the synthesis of higher hydrocarbons or the like, said gases containing definite volumes of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a certain proportion, by reacting on methane ... with carbon dioxide or a mixture of carbon dioxide and steam, so that the methane ... is decomposed into hydrogen and carbon monoxide"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Pittsburgh 1942 Coal Gasification Utilizes CO2 | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,302,156 - Process and Apparatus for the Production of Useful Fuel Gas; 1942; Inventor: Friedrich Totzek, Germany; Assignee: Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, PA; Abstract: This invention relates to the production of fuel gas or high heating power out of dusty of finely granular fuels, such as black or brown coal, or coke or semi-coke made therefrom, the fuel being converted at a high temperature with air (oxygen), steam and carbon dioxide whereby a gas is produced which is rich in hydrogen and carbon monoxide';
and, especially since the patent process takes years to complete, and the patent applications for the above had to have been submitted in the 1930's, the fact that liquid hydrocarbon fuels could be synthesized from Coal; and, that Germany knew pretty-darned well how to go about it, shouldn't have come as any big surprise to our US Government; or, for that matter, to the people of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when Germany started using Coal-based liquid fuels to conquer most of Europe.
In any case, we submit herein, briefly, just another example of the Koppers Company WWII-era technology for converting our abundant Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels; products, that, even more than 70 years ago, were in some places already perceived to be in perilously-short supply.
And, this one is of special interest to us, since it explains in greater detail, as few expositions of related technology seldom do, the Coal gasification process, as developed by the founder of the company himself, that leads to the formation of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide hydrocarbon synthesis gas.
More than that, it explains and documents that renewable, naturally CO2-recycling botanical matter can be gasified right along with the Coal, thus introducing a note of greater sustainability and even CO2 reduction.
As excerpted from the initial link in this dispatch:
"United States Patent 2,132,533 - Production of Gas Suitable for the Synthesis of Hydrocarbons
Date: October 11, 1938
Inventor: Heinrich Koppers, Germany
Assignee: Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, PA
The invention relates to the production of gases, suitable for the catalytical synthesis of hydrocarbons, for instance motor fuel, from carbon monoxide and hydrogen and especially to such a process for producing said gases, which work continuously, so that a continuous stream of useful gases may be obtained.
In the catalytical synthesis of hydrocarbons, for instance by the process of Professor Dr. Fischer and collaborators, a gas mixture is treated which consists essentially of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, preferably in a ratio of 1:2, besides some unavoidable inerts. Such a gas mixture is brought into contact with catalysts, such as finely divided cobalt or nickel compounds at normal or slightly increased pressure, whereby hydrocarbons are formed and water is split-off.
The principal object of my present invention is to provide such improvements in my former developed process, corresponding to my said co-pending application, which permits a higher yield of useful gases, suitable for the synthesis of hydrocarbons, and containing a high percentage of hydrogen, so that the ratio of carbon monoxide to hydrogen in the gas mixture is 1:2 or nearly 1:2.
(According) to my invention I transform the fuel including its bituminous matters, as far as possible into carbon monoxide and elementary hydrogen, these two substances being the basis for the production of well defined hydrocarbons, whilst the recovery of bituminous matters of the fuel in the usual form of tar and distillation oils is reduced or wholly omitted.
In the plant as shown ...
(The full document is accompanied by some pretty complete diagrams which, though complicated, do, if studied in accordance with the Disclosure, give you a pretty clear idea about how this operates.)
a gas producer serves for receiving the fuel to be gasified. Preferably a so-called easily reactive fuel shall be used, for instance ... bituminous non-caking coal, wood, shells of coconuts or any other suitable fuel containing carbon."
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We'll close our excerpts here, since, in the immediately above, lies for us the key to the importance of this process. Not only does it go into some detail about how the co-production of Carbon Dioxide can be minimized, with any CO2 generated by the hydrocarbon synthesis being recycled back into the gasification process, via ways and means we're not reproducing in our excerpts, it also verifies that CO2-recycling botanical material, "wood, shells of coconuts", can be included as a co-feed with the "coal".
Depending upon how much of such materials are included with the Coal, this could well be a, indirectly, through the botanical raw materials, CO2-consuming process.
That, especially, since the Disclosure includes description of integrated use of the Reverse Water Gas Shift reaction, wherein excess Hydrogen can be reacted with any available Carbon Dioxide to form more Carbon Monoxide, thus leaving open the option of adding Hydrogen, perhaps produced independently, via a process like those discussed in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | General Electric 2010 Hydrogen from Sunlight and Water | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "United States Patent 7,820,022 - Photoelectrochemical Cell and Method of Manufacture; 2010; Assignee: General Electric Company; Abstract: A photoelectrochemical cell (so designed) so that incident radiation on the semiconductor particles causes oxidation and reduction to occur within the cell to produce gaseous hydrogen and oxygen (from water)";
to the process of our subject, "United States Patent 2,132,533 - Production of Gas Suitable for the Synthesis of Hydrocarbons", so that any and all of any CO2 that might be co-produced could be so utilized in the making of more Carbon Monoxide, thus opening the potential for this, with inclusion of "wood", to be actually a "Carbon-negative" process.
We note that Koppers' development of Coal conversion processes, as seen in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Pittsburgh Coal and CO2 to Hydrocarbons | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,265,868 - Production of Carbon Monoxide by the Gasification of Carbonaceous Materials; 1981; Inventor: John Kamody, Irwin, PA; Assignee: Kopppers Company, Incorporated, Pittsburgh; Abstract: An increased amount of carbon monoxide is produced in a process for the gasification of carbonaceous materials by employing a reverse water gas shift reaction in the process. Claims: A process for producing increased amounts of a carbon monoxide-rich gas in the gasification of carbonaceous materials, comprising: reacting the carbonaceous materials with a gasifying entraining medium selected from the group comprising ... oxygen and steam; oxygen and carbon dioxide; oxygen, carbon dioxide, and steam; oxygen and water; oxygen (and/or) water and carbon dioxide ... to produce raw gases containing predominantly carbon monoxide and hydrogen";
didn't end with World War II, but, continued well into the time frame when someone concerned about both OPEC oil embargos and the economic health and social well-being of US Coal Country could have and should have visited the Koppers Company Pittsburgh offices and asked to be told all about the potentials for using our abundant Coal, and the more sustainable, CO2-recycling products of our fields, forests and farms, to, first, make a "Gas Suitable for the Synthesis of Hydrocarbons", and, then, darn it, make those "Hydrocarbons".