Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF COAL PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL AND R&D PROJECTS (Continued)
MRS COAL HYDROGENATOR PROCESS PROJECT - British Gas pic and Osaka Gas Company Ltd. (C-400)
Work is being carried out jointly by British Gas pic and the Osaka Gas Company
Ltd. of Japan, to produce methane and valuable
liquid hydrocarbon coproducts by the direct thermal reaction of hydrogen with coal. A novel reactor, the MRS (for Midlands
Research Station) coal hydrogenator incorporating internal gas recirculation in an entrained flow system has been developed to
provide a means of carrying out the process without the problems of coal agglomeration, having to deal with excessive coal fines, or
excessive hydrogenation gas preheat as found in earlier work.
A 200 kilogram per hour pilot plant was built to prove the reactor concept and to determine the overall process economics. The
process uses an entrained flow reactor with internal gas recirculation based on the Gas Recycle Hydrogenator (GRH) reactor that
British Gas developed to full commercial application for oil gasification.
Following commissioning of the plant in October 1987, a test program designed to establish the operability of the reactor and to
of the commercial process concept confirmed
obtain process data was successfully completed. An Engineering and Costing Study
overall technical feasibility and exceptionally high overall efficiency giving attractive economics.
In December 1988, the sponsors went ahead with the second stage of the joint research program to carry out a further two year
development program of runs at more extended conditions and to expand the pilot plant facilities to enable more advanced testing
to be carried out.
Through 1989, performance tests have been conducted at over 43 different operating conditions. Four different coals have been
tested, and a total of 10 tonnes have been gasified at temperatures of between 780 degrees centigrade and 1,000 degrees centigrade.
The initial plant design only allowed tests of up to a few hours duration to be carried out. The plant was modified in early 1990 to
provide continuous feeding of powdered coal and continuous cooling and discharge of the char byproduct. Over 50 tonnes of coal
was successfully gasified during 21 performance tests with a cumulative feeding time of 18 days. Continuous operation for periods
of up to 67 hours was achieved.
A full-scale physical model of a 50 tonne per day development-scale Coal Hydrogenator was commissioned in 1992. This has
enabled the scaleup of the hydrogenator to be studied. A range of coal injectors at feedrates of up to 50 tonnes per day have been
successfully tested.
The next stage of development is expected to be at 50 tonnes per day and consideration is being given for this to be built in Japan.
- MW. KELLOGG UPGRADING OF REFINERY OIL AND PETROLEUM COKE PROJECT MW.
States Department of Energy (C-404)
Kellogg Company and United
In September 1993, the Department of Energy (DOE) selected the M.W. Kellogg Company, Houston, TX, to study a technology
that could increase the efficiency of U.S. refineries by converting the heavy, difficult-to-process "bottom of the barrel"
into commer
cially
useful products.
As part of the $1.4 million, 3-year project, Kellogg will adapt a process originally developed for gasifying coal. The company will
apply the technology to processing heavy slurry oil and the solid, coal-like petroleum coke often left after refineries extract lighter
fuels such as gasoline, diesel and heating oil.
Kellogg has been working with the Energy Department since the early 1980s to develop a fluid bed coal gasification and combus
tion processes. During the testing of the KRW fluid bed gasification process, petroleum coke was successfully gasified. More
recently, a high-velocity Transport reactor design has successfully been piloted in an effort to reduce the capital cost of the coal
gasification reactor.
Kellogg was able to demonstrate gasification of paraffinic and aromatic naphthas in the Transport reactor and proposed to extend
this technology to gasification of heavier refinery residua. Initial testing under the DOE contract was with a heavy crude emulsion-
Results indicated that the quality of the gas produced depended significantly on the type of solids circulated in the Transport reac
tor. An inert material resulted in low hydrogen yields and high olefinic content of the product gas. With a more active solid, high
hydrogen yield was obtained and the gas contained essentially no hydrocarbons heavier than methane. Of significance, all of the
metals in the crude feed were deposited on the circulating solid.
Development will continue in 1995 on other refinery residua and on petroleum coke.
- NEDO IGCC PROJECT New
Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) (C-408)
NEDO is studying integrated gasification combined cycle technology as part of a national energy program. A 200 ton per day pilot
plant has been constructed at the Nakoso power station site in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. The pilot began operating in ^
March 1991.
4-66
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995