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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Process for the production of a high methane content town gas

Patent ·
OSTI ID:6603764
Shell Oil Co. has developed a new process to produce methane-rich town gas by carburetion of the gaseous product of partial combustion with a volatile hydrocarbon carburant, while suppressing soot and coke formation and avoiding methane decomposition by using a novel cooling approach. A carbonaceous fuel--such as distillate, residual, or heavy fuel oil or tar from tar sands or oil shale--is partially combusted to produce a hot gas product having a temperature of 2100/sup 0/-3100/sup 0/F (1150/sup 0/-1700/sup 0/C). This hot gas is cooled to 1200/sup 0/-2000/sup 0/F (650/sup 0/-1100/sup 0/C) by mixing it with a cool hydrogen-containing gas, to produce a cooled gas having a hydrogen partial pressure above 4 atm. The cooled gas is then carburated with a volatile hydrocarbon carburant--such as a distillate fraction boiling below 662/sup 0/F (350/sup 0/C)--to produce a high-methane-content gaseous product. The results of 2 runs demonstrate the superiority of using a cool hydrogen-containing gas instead of water for cooling the hot gas in order to increase the heating value of the product town gas by about 20%.
Assignee:
Shell Oil Co.
Patent Number(s):
US 3904388
OSTI ID:
6603764
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English