TVA ammonia from coal project. [Demonstration plant retrofitted to a natural gas-steam reforming plant]

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:5015850

Waitzman, D. A.

The TVA Ammonia from Coal Project consists of retrofitting an 8 ton/hour coal gasification and gas purification facility onto the front end of a small, but modern, natural gas-steam reforming ammonia plant at the National Fertilizer Development Center in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Practically all nitrogen fertilizer is made from ammonia. Ninety-five percent of the ammonia produced is made from natural gas. If we lose the natural gas, we lose the ammonia, the fertilizer, and one-third of the food and fiber produced. Neither this country nor the world can stand such a situation. The substitutes for natural gas that can be considered are naphtha, fuel oil, and coal. Availability and cost considerations are such that coal is the only viable alternative. The main objective of the TVA project is to provide technical and economic information to the US fertilizer industry for the substitution of coal for natural gas as a feedstock for producing ammonia. The TVA demonstration facility should provide a basis for retrofitting existing plants. There are about one hundred natural gas-steam reforming plants in the US and about thirty of these are large 1000 ton/day plants. If these plants can be retrofitted so that they can use coal, the present investments in these plants can be protected. Many of the problems involved in retrofitting are different from those with grass-roots plants. Others, such as th W.R. Grace Company, are pursuing grass-roots ammonia from coal technology, and we believe grass-roots and retrofit approaches supplement each other and both approaches should be pursued. Much of the data from the TVA project will be applicable to grass-roots plants. The Texaco coal gasification process was selected for the TVA project, but it is apparent that a number of processes are entirely adequate for use in ammonia from coal plants.

• Research Organization: Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, AL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5015850
• Report Number(s): CONF-780891-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
090320 -- Inorganic Hydrogen Compound Fuels-- Preparation-- (1976-1989)
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
AMMONIA
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL GASIFICATION
DEMONSTRATION PLANTS
DESIGN
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
FERTILIZERS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GASIFICATION
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL GAS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
PRODUCTION
PURIFICATION
REFORMER PROCESSES
RETROFITTING
SHIFT PROCESSES
SYNTHESIS GAS
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
TEXACO GASIFICATION PROCESS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE HEAT UTILIZATION
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION