Researchers Exploring New Refinery-Based Coal-to-Liquids Pathways for Jet Fuel and Other Products

www.greencarcongress.com ^ | 08/21/2007 | Staff

[Red Badger]

Researchers at Penn State University are investigating several coal-to-liquid processes that differ from traditional direct (Bergius) and indirect (Fischer-Tropsch) liquefaction. The new pathways could introduce coal-derived chemicals or coal into existing oil refinery operations for the production of end products including jet fuel, gasoline, diesel, heating oil and carbon anodes.

The primary focus of the work, which is funded by the Department of Energy, is the development of a coal-based replacement for conventional jet fuel. The coal-to-jet fuel work is in the pilot-plant stage, but along with the jet fuel, the processes produce other hydrocarbon products. For every eight barrels of a Jet A equivalent, the process produces a half barrel of fuel oil, one barrel of diesel and a half barrel of gasoline.

Pilot-scale testing indicates that a prototype fuel meets most of the current specifications for JP-8. Combustion tests in a turboshaft engine show emissions to be generally comparable to those from control experiments with JP-8.

The work focuses on three processes:

1.

Coal tar/refinery solvent blending and hydrotreatment to produce the various product fractions. This is the process demonstrated in the pilot plant. 2.

Co-coking of coal/refinery solvents. This process to produce jet fuel mixes raw, clean coal with decant oil—the liquid found at the bottom after catalytic cracking—and then co-cokes. The liquid from the coker is hydrotreated and fractionated to provide the desired products. This co-coking process aims to produce coke or carbon of much higher quality usable in manufacturing carbon anodes for a variety of uses. Fuel-grade coke, which is a standard fuel in the steel industry, sells for about $20 a ton. The coke used in these anodes is a much higher value than fuel coke. 3.

Coal extraction using refinery solvents. This method uses light cycle oil to extract the liquid components of coal and then the liquid portion, without separation, travels on through the refinery hydrotreater. In initial bench testing, this method produced a 50% yield of liquids. When processed in a multistage reactor, 70% extraction took place. The researchers are continuing this work to reduce the amount of light cycle oil necessary, develop a method to separate liquids and solids, and scale up the process.

Our aim is to integrate the processes and products into existing refinery structures and streams. We need to be sure that these components fit into the refinery stream that they are close enough in composition to be mixed with the components coming from crude oil. —Caroline E. Burgess-Clifford, Penn State Energy Institute

So far, the researchers, including Harold Schobert, professor of fuel sciences; Maria M. Escallon and Utaiporn Suryapraphadilok, graduate students; Gareth D. Mitchell, Omer Gul, Josefa M. Griffith and Parvana Gafarova, research associates, Energy Institute, characterize the gasoline and fuel oil as fitting within the standard crude oil refinery stream. The diesel fuel is different from standard diesel fuel.

Other participants in this project tested the products in real units, including Andre Boehman, professor of fuel science and his group who tested the gasoline and diesel in engines; Bruce Miller, senior research associate and his group who tested the fuel oil in a pilot scale boiler; and Chunshan Song, director of the Energy Institute and professor of fuel science and his group who did related catalyst research.

The produced diesel can be blended with the petroleum diesel without changing the fuel properties significantly. It has not been shown to be bad or have bad effects, it is just different. We are also examining the produced jet fuel to see if it could be used as a diesel fuel, as the jet fuel has undergone extensively more processing than the other products. So far the process has produced really good carbon, but it contains too many residual minerals for anode use. The liquid component does include jet fuel, but the liquid products are very heavy in fuel oil.

The researchers presented their work in a series of papers at the American Chemical Society meeting in Boston. Future work will strive to reduce impurities in the solid carbon product. Researchers will also investigate either fractionating the fuel oil component or improving the liquid yield.

Resources:

*

Caroline Burgess-Clifford and Harold H. Schobert, “Development of coal-based jet fuel” (ACS 234, FUEL 84) *

Caroline E. Burgess, Omer Gul, Josefa M. Griffith, Parvana Gafarova, Gareth D. Mitchell, Maria M Escallon, Utaiporn Suriapraphadilok, and Harold Schobert, “Integrating coal-to-liquid processes into refinery processes” (ACS 234, FUEL 86) *

Maria M Escallon, Benjamin Carlsen, Caroline Burgess-Clifford, and Harold H. Schobert, “Assessment of oils derived from the co-coking: Best conditions toward the improvement of the jet fuel thermal stability” (ACS 234, GEOC 54)

[Red Badger]

Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.......

If you want on or off the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me........

This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days......

[Red Badger]

KnOcK!............

[MSF BU]

If thermaldepolymerization were used across the country, we could end up turning all or our waste plastic into fuel oil or diesel, mitigating both the waste and fuel shortage problems.

[Little Pig]

Question to you: will coal liquefaction-derived diesel run in standard engines without the engine needing to be modified? I’m thinking particularly the older Detroit Diesel V-8s used in US military (no common-rail injection, and no electronic controls).

[Red Badger]

It’s being done...................

[Red Badger]

Yes. It is completely compatible. The military (AF) has just qualified it for use in B-52’s as a 50-50 mixture. The old diesel engines wouldn’t miss a stroke......

[MSF BU]

Is it? I’m just curious; aside from the Turkey to Diesel venture in Missouri I am not aware of any of plants trying this. I hope you are right.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Veba !

[Red Badger]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1631103/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1619297/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1531409/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/855512/posts

[MSF BU]

Interesting. Mostly biodiesel progress. Unless I am uninformed, TDP is the one way the completely turn ANY waste plastic into oil. Works great on tires as well. Part of the economic model has to include tipping fees to make it profitable, or at leat that typically seems to be the case.

[Red Badger]

There is a garbage to fuel thread somewhere, I’m looking for it..............

[Wonder Warthog]

"Unless I am uninformed, TDP is the one way the completely turn ANY waste plastic into oil."

TDP isn't just for plastics. It should be able to turn pretty much any organic with a polymeric structure into hydrocarbons--that includes just about the entire city garbage stream (cellulose and lignin are just another type of polymer). Remember--one of the first TDP test applications was to render waste from turkey slaughtering.

Another possibility is gasification. I've always wondered why the big cities don't fund research into taking the entire city garbage stream and feeding it (possibly along with some coal) into a gasifier. This would let them replace natural gas for home heating (the output of a gasifier is identical to what used to be called "town gas", used for heating and gas lamps before electric lamps were invented), and, if there were a nearby refinery, as feed for conversion into higher hydrocarbons. This could turn something they have to PAY to have hauled away into a profite center.

[MSF BU]

Correct. I just mentioned plastics because a. nobody likes to burn them and b. Changing World Technologies information indicates plastics are the best feedstock in terms of producing oil and gas.

[taildragger]

Again, we may be moving towards one fuel.

1.)The Heavy Fuel requirement for 2010 for all small engines in the military inventory.

2.)The B-52 now certified to burn coal derived JP fuels.

The Military and R & D will do what the Congress Critters can't, they will get-r-done.

I think Propane is the way to go, but the momentum may be towards heavy fuel. Maybe for Cars it will make the inroads Picken's says it may.

[ClaireSolt]

Here, I pay $300/yr for te privilege of setting out paper and plastics in blue and yellow recycle bins. Then Waste Management makes a bundle off of selling it. That is the kind of con I have come to associate with Arkansas.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Here, I pay $300/yr for te privilege of setting out paper and plastics in blue and yellow recycle bins. Then Waste Management makes a bundle off of selling it. That is the kind of con I have come to associate with Arkansas."

No con. They're just making you pay the cost directly, instead of indirectly via. a general tax fee. To use an old phrase: "Ya pays me now, or ya pays me later."

But in the case of TDP or gasification, they would pay YOU (or at least not charge you) for the free raw material used to produce "new energy".

[cpdiii]

Red Bager, you are the diesel expert here. Will a diesel engine run on Jet A without modification, and is there any danger of pre-ignition with Jet A in a diesel engine???????

[Red Badger]

I wouldn’t call myself an “expert” by any stretch of my imagination. But there are “experts” in this field in my “KnOcK” list.

My “top-o-my-head” answer would be yes, it will run without mods.
And no, I don’t think “pre-ignition” would be a problem.........But I could be wrong......