Opportunities for by-product recovery in synfuel plants

Technical Report · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5293276

Gaines, L L; Klausmeier, W H; Lynch, E P; Tevebaugh, A D

Emerging synfuel technologies will generate large quantities of solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes that may contain useful by-products. Recovery and sale of such materials could reduce the waste-disposal burden and increase plant revenues; recovery of organic compounds could improve the energy efficiency of the process. At present, the synfuel industry is not yet set in place; therefore now is the best time to investigate potentially useful by-products and methods of recovering them, so that the synfuel plants eventually built can be equipped with appropriate recovery devices. Three major synfuel technologies, each represented by a promising process, were examined with a view to identifying potentially recoverable by-products and evaluating conventional and novel recovery processes that might be useful. The three technologies reviewed are shale oil retorting, represented by the Colony Shale Oil Project (which uses the TOSCO II process); coal gasification, represented by the Great Plains synthetic natural gas facility, and coal liquefaction, represented by the H-Coal Project. Our findings indicate that the members of the synfuels industry are well aware of the potential of the various conventional methods of recovering by-products: for example, sulfur, ammonia, and phenolic compounds. Other opportunities exist, however - some are not cost effective at present, and some are in need of further development. For example, aluminum could be recovered from dawsonite in oil shale; some oil shale deposits also contain nahcolite (a sodium carbonate mineral); the catalysts used in synfuel production contain noble metals that may be worth recovering; and the large volumes of carbon dioxide produced by many synfuel processes may be useful for enhancing the yield of oil fields. 53 refs., 34 figs., 45 tabs.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5293276
• Report Number(s): ANL/CNSV-48; ON: DE86000183
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
010405 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Hydrogenation & Liquefaction
04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040400 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Oil Production
Recovery
& Refining
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
AMMONIA
AROMATICS
BIOCONVERSION
BY-PRODUCTS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CARBONATE MINERALS
CARBONATES
CATALYSTS
CHALCOGENIDES
COAL GASIFICATION
COAL GASIFICATION PLANTS
COAL LIQUEFACTION
COAL LIQUEFACTION PLANTS
DATA
DIAGRAMS
ELEMENTS
EVALUATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLOWSHEETS
GASEOUS WASTES
GASIFICATION
H-COAL PROCESS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INFORMATION
LIQUEFACTION
LIQUID WASTES
LURGI PROCESS
METALS
MINERALS
NAHCOLITE
NITROGEN
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL SHALE PROCESSING PLANTS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHENOLS
RESIDUES
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
SODIUM CARBONATES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SOLID WASTES
SULFIDES
SULFUR
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
TOSCO PROCESS
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER