Not long ago, as accessible via:
we made report to you of:
"United States Patent 8,449,632 - Sewage Material in Coal Liquefaction; May 28, 2013; Inventor: Alfred H. Stiller, Morgantown, WV; Assignee: West Virginia University; Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and systems for coal liquefaction using a sewage material. A method of obtaining a de-ashed coal extract includes exposing a coal to a sewage material in the presence of a coal-derived solvent to form a slurry, elevating the temperature of the slurry to facilitate liquefying the coal and liberating a volatile matter, and separating the insoluble components from the slurry to obtain a de-ashed coal extract, wherein the coal extract is suitable for downstream processing. The method ... wherein the coal-derived solvent is selected from a group comprising recycled liquefied coal, coal tar distillate, and coal tar pitch. Tetralin has been used as a donor solvent. However, a large overpressure of hydrogen and high temperature is needed to transfer the hydrogen from the gas phase to naphthalene, which is produced when tetralin is dehydrogenated as it transfers hydrogen to coal molecules. Thus, in situ re-hydrogenation during liquefaction can be rather costly.In an aspect, the present invention provides methods and systems for inexpensively producing an effective solvent to digest coal. Alternatively, the methods and systems may enhance the dissolution ability of heavy aromatic oils by the addition of a hydrogenated liquid. In an embodiment, the hydrogenated liquid may be partially or fully hydrogenated vegetable oil";
wherein the accomplished West Virginia University Coal scientist, Alfred H. Stiller, discloses how, in a process requiring less pressure and temperature than related, earlier technologies, Coal can be directly hydrogenated and liquefied, forming a product suitable as feedstock for a standard petroleum refinery; and, can be so efficiently hydrogenated along with some added, Carbon-recycling waste, "sewage material", through, in part, the agency of a Carbon-recycling product of agriculture, "hydrogenated vegetable oil".
We confess that we, here, - -
(especially in light of the fact that we earlier documented, via:
West Virginia Coal Association | WVU and China Coal to $24 per Barrel Oil | Research & Development; concerning the WVU presentation: "Coal to Clean Fuel; The Shenhua Investment in Direct Coal Liquefaction; Jerald J. Fletcher, Director and Professor, (and) Qingyun Sun, Research Assistant Professor; Natural Resource Analysis Center; West Virginia University; 2004";
West Virginia University stated not that long ago that a direct Coal liquefaction process, which we would think closely related to that disclosed in "United States Patent 8,449,632 - Sewage Material in Coal Liquefaction", could convert Coal into synthetic crude petroleum at a cost of "$24/bbl")
- - remain stunned that none of the half-dozen or so West Virginia and other Coal Country journalists who are the primary addressee's of these dispatches haven't yet been motivated enough to pull their noses out of the gas pipe at least long enough to give WVU a call to learn more about these prospects for making very affordable crude oil out of Coal, by far our most abundant fossil resource, in such Carbon-recycling, more sustainable processes; and, then, to bring the news of them to the rest of us.
WVU, unfazed by the prevailing lack of insight displayed, and the common disregard afforded, by the distracted Coal Country press to their efforts, soldiers nobly on; and, herein, we learn that they have developed a companion technology for that disclosed in the above-cited "United States Patent 8,449,632 - Sewage Material in Coal Liquefaction"; one which reveals how, as specified in "United States Patent 8,449,632", sustainable and Carbon-recycling "vegetable oil" can serve, and be utilized as another raw material, in the conversion of Coal into synthetic crude petroleum.
As seen in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to the very recent:
"United States Patent 8,465,561 - Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil in Coal Liquefaction
Hydrogenated vegetable oil in coal liquefaction - West Virginia University
Patent US8465561 - Hydrogenated vegetable oil in coal liquefaction - Google Patents
Date: June 18, 2013
Inventors: Alfred H. Stiller and Elliot B. Kennel, Morgantown, WV
Assignee: West Virginia University
Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and systems for coal liquefaction using a hydrogenated vegetable oil. A method of obtaining a de-ashed coal extract includes exposing a coal to a hydrogenated vegetable oil in the presence of a coal-derived solvent to form a slurry, elevating the temperature of the slurry to facilitate liquefying the coal and liberating a volatile matter, and separating the insoluble components from the slurry to obtain a de-ashed coal extract, wherein the coal extract is suitable for downstream processing.
(In this and in our previously-reported "United States Patent 8,449,632 - Sewage Material in Coal Liquefaction", you see mention made of "a coal-derived solvent" being used in the processes. Our admittedly impaired understanding leads us to conclude that such a "coal-derived solvent" can be made in and diverted from the process itself, as will be borne out in excerpts further on. However, the above-named co-inventor "Elliot B. Kennel", another WVU Coal scientist whom we have previously cited, has devoted considerable effort, separately, to identifying and specifying those solvents, and how they are produced. We will be documenting some of that in future reports, although the language describing the technology, and it's applications, is complex enough that our understanding of it, and thus our ability to make coherent report of it, is extremely limited.)
Claims: A method of obtaining a de-ashed coal extract, comprising: exposing a coal to a hydrogenated vegetable oil in the presence of a coal-derived solvent to form a slurry; elevating the temperature of the slurry to facilitate liquefying the coal and liberating a volatile matter; and separating insoluble components from the slurry to obtain a de-ashed coal extract.The method ... wherein water liberated as a result of the elevated temperature is captured and stored (and) wherein the volatile matter is condensed and recycled.
The method ... further comprising, distilling the coal extract to obtain a pitch.
The method ... wherein the coal-derived solvent is selected from the group consisting of recycled liquefied coal, coal tar distillate, and coal tar pitch.
(Again, as confirmed above, the necessary solvent can be "liquefied coal", "recycled" from within the process itself. It is not something mysterious or unobtainable, or which must be purchased at huge expense from a separate, specialty supplier. And there are, as it appears further on, other options.)
The method ... wherein the hydrogenated vegetable oil is at least one of soybean oil, peanut oil, canola oil, olive oil, other vegetable oil or combination of at least two of these oils.
The method ... wherein the temperature is elevated to between 300 ... and 600 degrees Celsius (and) further comprising agitating the slurry to facilitate liquefying the coal.
Background and Field: The present invention relates to coal-to-liquid technology, and specifically to a system and method for liquefying coal using solvents that hydrogenate under mild conditions.
Coal-to-liquid technology refers to chemical processes that convert solid coal into liquid fuels and chemicals. The hydrogen to carbon ratio (H/C, molar) of coal is about 0.8 while that of liquid fuels is about 2.0. The main functions of the coal-to-liquid processes are breakage of the coal's molecular size and addition of hydrogen into coal, or in other words, destructive hydrogenation of coal. These processes are generally termed as coal liquefaction.
Coal liquefaction may occur by two different pathways: indirect liquefaction and direct liquefaction. The indirect method converts coal to hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and syngas by reacting coal with steam at high temperatures in an oxygen-starved combustion process. Direct liquefaction includes reaction of coal with hydrogen in a manner that coal becomes liquid. However, direct coal liquefaction has been historically carried out with hydrogen gas, which requires high temperature and pressure. In an example, direct coal liquefaction may involve temperatures in excess of 450 C and 2000 psig pressure.
Tetralin has been used as a donor solvent. However, a large overpressure of hydrogen and high temperature is needed to transfer the hydrogen from the gas phase to naphthalene, which is produced when tetralin is dehydrogenated as it transfers hydrogen to coal molecules. Thus, in situ re-hydrogenation during liquefaction can be rather costly.
In view of the limitations discussed above, there exists a need for a method of coal liquefaction utilizing an inexpensively produced, effective hydrogen donor solvent to digest coal."
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We are going to break with our usual formatting for these reports. The extensive bulk of the full Disclosure of our subject herein is given over to revelation of various "embodiments" of the process which can be confusing, and, which can lead to some incorrect conclusions about the technology.
It is, first and foremost, an efficient process for the conversion of Coal into liquid hydrocarbons.
However, the full discussion dwells and focuses on an intermediate product, "coal tar pitch"; and, it is important, we think, for you to keep one thing in mind should you take the time to examine and study the full document. As Stiller and Kennel plainly state, deep within their expositions of Background and Field, and Summary:
"The pitch may also be refined using typical petroleum refining processes to yield transportation fuels."
Further, since this is a method of "coal liquefaction utilizing an inexpensively produced, effective hydrogen donor solvent to digest coal", lest there be any doubt what might serve as the basis for such "an inexpensively produced, effective hydrogen donor solvent to digest coal", Stiller and Kennel spell out the possible sources for such a solvent in the passage:
"In embodiments, a plurality of hydrogenated solvents may be used for the coal liquefaction process. The hydrogenated solvents may include, but are not limited to, pipeline crude oil, rubber tires, animal waste, anything with the potential of adding a proton to an aromatic or breaking a chemical bond, horse manure, chicken manure, sewage sludge, lignin, any bio-waste with lignin, peanut oil, soybean oil, canola oil, olive oil or other vegetable oil, decalin, partially hydrogenated coal tar distillate, or partially hydrogenated petroleum distillate or partially hydrogenated decant oil or recycle oil, Fisher-Tropsch liquid, methyl naphthalene, decahydronaphthalene, tetrahydronaphthalene, methyl naphthalene, creosote oil, coal tar pitch, asphalt pitch, gasification tar, recycled motor oil, petroleum distillates, rubber, plastics, recycled plastics (e.g. polystyrenes), recycled rubber, biomass derivatives, liquefied coal, liquefied biomass, shale oil, liquefied process gas, cacenaphthenes, di, tetra- and octahydroanthracenes, tetrahydroacenaphthenes and other derivatives of partially hydrogenated aromatic compounds, petroleum distillates, petroleum catalytic cracker products, distillates of gasification tars, products from the pyrolysis of recycled hydrocarbons, and aromatic oil products obtained from the distillation of shale oil or tar sands".
And, given all the above potentials for the use and consumption of, among other things, various wastes comprised in part of Carbon, such as "chicken manure" and "recycled plastics", we note that such wastes actually, as seen for one example in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | WVU Liquefies Coal + Biowaste | Research & Development; concerning:
"Co-processing of Agricultural and Biomass Waste with Coal; Alfred H. Stiller, et. al.; Dept.of Chemical Engineering; West Virginia University; A major thrust of our research program is the use of waste materials as co-liquefaction agents for the first-stage conversion of coal to liquid fuels. By fulfilling one or more of the roles of an expensive solvent in the direct coal liquefaction (DCL) process, the waste material is disposed off ex-landfill, and may improve the overall economics of DCL. Work in our group has concentrated on co-liquefaction with waste rubber tires (but, in) this paper, we report on preliminary results with agricultural and biomass-type waste as co-liquefaction agents. ... In the category of biomass-type waste, we have used sawdust. In the category of agricultural waste, we have used horse manure, cow manure, and a more-prosaic (but perhaps more-reproducible) commercially available manure";
used as co-liquefaction agents and raw materials for and with Coal, can compose the material bases of the necessary "hydrogenated solvents ... used for the coal liquefaction process".
And, as confirmed for one example in:
West Virginia Coal Association | WVU Improves CTLYield with Waste Tires | Research & Development; concerning: "Effect of process conditions on co-liquefaction kinetics of waste tire and coal; Ramesh K. Sharma, et. al.,
West Virginia University, 1998; Abstract:
Thermal and catalytic liquefactions of waste (recycled) tire and coal were studied ... in order to understand the role of the tire as a solvent in co-liquefaction";
the use and consumption of troublesome wastes, like used automotive tires, as process-enhancing sources of Coal solvents and additional raw material for the synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons has been studied in depth and developed at WVU for quite some time.
Further, throughout the Disclosure, Stiller and Kennel emphasize that "
the coal may be a low rank coal such as sub-bituminous coal". But, they further clarify "that the coal ... may be bituminous", as we mine in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.
And, finally, we note, that, as seen in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | WVU & Canada Cement from Coal Liquefaction Residues | Research & Development; concerning:
"United States Patent Application 20120090510 - Forming Cement as a By-Product of Coal Liquefaction; 2012; Inventor: Alfred H. Stiller, Morgantown, WV; Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and systems for coal liquefaction and obtaining a cement by-product. A method of obtaining a cement by-product of coal liquefaction may include exposing a coal to a hydrogenated vegetable oil in the presence of a coal-derived solvent to form a slurry, elevating the temperature of the slurry to facilitate liquefying the coal and liberating a volatile matter, separating the insoluble components from the slurry, heating the insoluble components to liberate a volatile matter and an entrained solvent, blending the insoluble components with a calcareous material and roasting the blend in a kiln at a temperature greater than 1000 degrees Celsius to obtain a clinker, and grinding the clinker to obtain a cement";
the good Dr. Alfred Stiller has, as well, productively addressed the issue of what to do with the inorganic mineral matter, the Ash, that will remain as a residue after Coal's organic content has been extracted for use, via the processes of "United States Patent 8,449,632 - Sewage Material in Coal Liquefaction" and of our subject herein, "United States Patent 8,465,561 - Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil in Coal Liquefaction", and converted into an "extract ... suitable for downstream processing", that is, a "pitch" that can "be refined using typical petroleum refining processes to yield transportation fuels".