Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF COAL PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL AND R&D PROJECTS (Continued)
Hot, low-BTU coal gas leaving the gasifier passes through cyclones which return most of the entrained particulate matter to the
gasifier. The gas, which leaves the gasifier at about 1.700T, is cooled to 1,050T^ before entering the hot gas cleanup system
During cleanup, virtually all of the remaining particulates are removed by ceramic candle filters, and final traces of sulfur are
removed in a fixed bed of zinc ferrite sorbent.
In the demonstration project, a nominal 800 tons per day of coal is converted into 86 megawatts; support facilities for the plant re
quire 6 megawatts, leaving 80 megawatts for export to the grid. The plant has a calculated heat rate of 9,082 BTU per kilowatthour
(HHV). The project will be designed to run on Western subbituminous coal from Utah; operation with higher sulfur and
lower rank coals also is being considered.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has agreed to fund half of the $270 million project cost. The project is funded by DOE
through the Clean Coal Technology Program, Round 4. Sierra Pacific Power will fund the remaining 50 percent.
Foster Wheeler USA Corp. has been contracted to provide design, engineering, construction, manufacturing and environmental
services for the project.
The permitting process was initiated in 1992. Completion is estimated for 1996-1997. The Public Service Commission of Nevada
approved the project on October 25, 1993. A draft EIS is being prepared by DOE.
Project Cost: $270 million for four year operating demonstration project
- POLISH DIRECT LIQUEFACTION PROCESS Coal
Conversion Institute, Poland (C^*60)
In 1975, Polish research on efficient coal liquefaction technology was advanced to a rank of Government Program PR-1 "Complex
Coal Processing,"
and in 1986 to a Central Research and Development Program under the same title. The leading and coordinating
unit for the coal liquefaction research has been the Coal Conversion Institute, part of the Central Mining Institute.
Initial work was concentrated on the two-stage extraction method of coal liquefaction. The investigations were carried out up to
the bench scale unit (120 kilograms of coal per day). The next steptests on a Process Development Unit (PDU)-met serious
problems with the mechanical separation of solids (unreacted coal and ash) from the coal extract, and continuous operation was
not achieved. In the early eighties a decision was made to start investigations on direct coal hydrogenation under medium pressure.
Investigations of the new technology were first carried out on a bench-scale unit of five kilograms of coal per hour. The coal con
version and liquid products yields obtained as well as the operational reliability of the unit made it possible to design and construct
a PDU scaled for two tonnes of coal per day.
The construction of the direct hydrogenation PDU at the Central Mining Institute was finished in the middle of 1986. In Novem
ber 1986 the first integrated run of the entire unit was carried out.
The significant, original feature of this direct, non-catalytic, middle-pressure coal hydrogenation process is the recycle of part of the
product heavy from the hot separator through the preheater to the reaction zone without pressure release. Thanks to that, a good
distribution of residence times for different fractions of products is obtained, the proper hydrodynamics of a three-phase reactor is
provided and the content of mineral matter (which acts as a catalyst) in the reactants is increased. From 1987 systematic tests on
low rank coal type 31 have been carried out, with over 100 tons of coal processed in steady-state parameters.
The results from the operation of the PDU will be used in the design of a pilot plant with a capacity of 200 tonnes coal per day.
- POWER SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT FACILITY (PSDF) Southern
(DOE) (C^65)
Company Services (SCS) and U.S. Department of Energy
The PSDF is a flexible test facility designed to evaluate particulate control devices for advanced coal-based power plants. The test
facility, located at the SCS Clean Coal Research Center in Wilsonville. Alabama, will utilize a project team from SCS. DOE.
Electric Power Research Institute. The MW. Kellogg Company (MWKCo). Foster-Wheeler (FW). Westinghouse (WH). SOuthern
Research Institute. Industrial Filter Pump, and Combustion Power Company.
The PSDF facility consists of a limestone-coal preparation facility and can pulverize and blend 102 tons/day of various sub
bituminous and bituminous coals with limestone for testing in the two trains-an Advanced Gasifier Train and an Advanced Pres
surized Fluid-Bed Combustion (APFBC) Train.
The Advanced Gasifier Train consists of a MWKCo reactor capable of processing 2 tons of coal per hour to produce 1.000 cfm of
particulate-laden gas as 1.000-1.800F and 300 psig to various particulate control devices being tested.
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995