Catalytic coal gasification: an emerging technology for SNG

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5386919

Lessard, R R; Reitz, R A

It has long been known that salts of alkali metals catalyze the gasification of coal. In 1971, Exxon Research and Engineering Company discovered that potassium salts added to coal also promote the methanation of coal gasification products. This discovery led to Exxon's Catalytic Coal Gasification (CCG) process. In the CCG process, coal with added potassium salts is gasified in a fluid bed at about 1300/sup 0/F and 500 psia. Since lower temperatures and higher pressure favor methane formation, the gasification reactor has a high methane yield. By separating and recycling unconverted CO and H/sub 2/ back to the reactor, a single reaction step process is obtained. An advantage of CCG is that the heat release from methanation is in the gasifier where it provides essentially all of the heat needed for gasification. This eliminates the need for oxygen or other complex gasifier heat input methods. Thermal efficiency of CCG ranges from 60 to 70% depending on coal feed properties. Process development work has been carried out in bench scale equipment and pilot plants. The 1 ton/day unit has operated for over 8000 hours since its completion in 1978. The next major phase of the CCG development program is the construction and operation of a 100 ton/day pilot plant. This unit is to be built in Holland with the objective of bringing the process to commercial readiness. The size has been carefully selected to allow direct scale-up from the 100 ton/day pilot plant to commercial sized plants.

• Research Organization: Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Baytown, TX (USA). Baytown Research and Development Div.
• DOE Contract Number: AC01-78ET13005
• OSTI ID: 5386919
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/13005-T13; ON: DE82007596
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METALS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL REACTORS
COAL GASIFICATION
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
CRYOGENICS
DENSITY
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
ELEMENTS
ENERGY BALANCE
ENERGY LOSSES
EXXON GASIFICATION PROCESS
FLUIDIZED BED
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GASIFICATION
HEAT LOSSES
LOSSES
METALS
METHANATION
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PILOT PLANTS
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
RECOVERY
THERMAL EFFICIENCY
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES