Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF COAL PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL AND R&D PROJECTS (Continued)
tion; residual wash oil is recovered by a vacuum that dries the filter cake. The coal extract solution is then pressurized, mixed
with hydrogen and heated before being fed to the ebullating bed hydrocracking reactors. The product from this stage is dis
tilled to recover the recyclable solvent and produce LPG (propane and butane), naphtha and mid-distillate. A byproduct pitch
stream is siphoned off although material in this boiling range is primarily returned to the digestion stage as part of the solvent.
The remaining streams consist of light hydrocarbon gases and heterogases formed from the nitrogen and sulfur in the coal.
Studies have confirmed that the process can produce high yields of gasoline and diesel very efficiently-work on world-wide
coals has shown that it can liquefy economically most coals and lignite and can handle high ash feedstocks. The program is
progressing to mid-1995.
Project Cost: 20 million British pounds (1989 prices) construction cost plus 18 million British pounds (1989 prices) operating
costs.
BUGGENUM IGCC POWER PLANT -
(C-91)
A commercial prototype IGCC plant has been built at Buggenum in the Netherlands, and was started up at the end of 1993.
The first electricity from coal was produced in April, 1994. The system was designed as one process train with a combined cycle
of270MW.
The Shell system being used is an oxygen-blown, entrained flow, slagging gasifier which uses a dry pulverized coal feed. Coal
and oxygen are fed into a pressure vessel. The reaction product is a medium BTU gas consisting mainly of carbon monoxide
and hydrogen, together with ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, and carbonyl sulfide. The downstream process
consists of cooling and cleaning the gas of these toxic trace compounds. The clean synthetic gas is 62 percent CO, 32 percent
H , and 5.5 percent inert gas. The residual sulfur content, mainly unconverted carbonyl sulfide, is less than 100 ppm by
volume.
In the Shell IGCC project the gas turbine is used as a source of oxygen for the process, and nitrogen to pressurize the coal feed
system. Air is bled from the compressor discharge and sent to a cryogenic air separation unit which yields oxygen to the
process and makeup nitrogen to pressurize the coal transfer system.
After startup, a 3-year demonstration program (1994-1996) will be conducted. The unit will then operate as a commercial
powerplant.
- CALDERON ENERGY GASIFICATION PROJECT Calderon
(C-95)
Energy Company, United States Department of Energy
Calderon Energy Company is constructing a coal gasification process development unit. The Calderon process targets the
clean production of electrical power with coproduction of fuel methanol.
Phase I activity and Phase II. detailed design, have been completed. Construction of the process development unit (PDU) was
completed in 1990. Test operation began in October 1990 and ran at 50 percent capacity during the early stages.
The PDU will demonstrate the Calderon gasification process. In the process, run-of-mine high sulfur coal is first pyrolyzed to
recover a rich gas (medium BTU), after which the resulting char is subjected to airblown gasification to yield a lean gas (low
BTU gas). The process incorporates an integrated system of hot gas cleanup which removes both particulate and sulfur com
ponents of the gas products, and which cracks the rich gas to yield a syngas (CO and H mix) suitable for further conversion
(e.g., to methanol). The lean gas is suitable to fuel the combustion turbine of a combined cycle power generation plant. The
PDU is specified for an pressure operating of 350 as psig would be required to support combined cycle power production.
The pilot project, designed to process 25 tons of coal per day, is expected to operate for six to twelve months while operating
in the system are worked out.
data is gathered and any "bugs"
The federal government has contributed $12 million toward project costs, with another $1.5 million coming from the Ohio Coal
Development Office.
for a
commercial site in Bowling Green, Ohio. Calderon filed a proposal under the Clean Coal Technology program Round V to
build a cogeneration facility supplying 87 megawatts of electricity and 613 tons of methanol per day. The project did not
receive funding, however, in Round III or IV. A preliminary design and cost estimate has been prepared by Bechtel. Calderon
Calderon Energy has obtained certification from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a Qualifying Facility
is negotiating with Toledo Edison to sell the electricity which would be produced.
Project Cost: Total Cost $242 million, PDU $20 million
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995