Performance comparison of 15- and 165-tpd Texaco coal gasifiers. Final report

Technical Report · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6788098

Richter, G N; Stevenson, J S; Hollingsworth, L S

Illinois No. 6 coal from Peabody Coal Company's River King Mine at Freeburg, Illinois was shipped to the Ruhrkohle/Ruhrchemie demonstration gasification plant in Oberhausen-Holten, West Germany where the coal was made into an aqueous slurry. A portion of the slurry was shipped to Texaco's Montebello Research Laboratory. Steady state gasification studies were made on the same coal slurry preparation in the 15-TPD MRL pilot unit and the 165-TPD RK/RCH demonstration unit and the results compared. Observed performance differences between the two units were relatively minor which leads to the expectation that further scale-up to the Cool Water commercial size should be successful. To summarize the results, at the same process conditions, the performance of the smaller gasifier was consistently superior. Also, both gasifiers performed better at full load. Low-load performance deterioration was more significant in the large gasifier. Superior performance is indicated primarily by higher carbon conversion at the same oxygen-to-slurry ratio with all other parameters held constant. This translates into more usable energy being available per unit of coal and/or oxygen feed for the smaller gasifier and at full load. It is important to note that geometry (and some process conditions) can be altered to improve performance. Specifically, new burners tested at Ruhrchemie since the EPRI programs were completed have shown: the larger gasifier can perform as well as the Montebello pilot plant at the same process conditions; and much of the performance deterioration at turndown conditions can be eliminated. Based on the gasifiers performance, scale-up considerations gained from these runs and the recent burner developments, EPRI is optimistic that the sixfold scale-up from the Oberhausen to the Cool Water gasifier size will be successful.

• Research Organization: Texaco, Inc., South El Monte, CA (USA). Montebello Research Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6788098
• Report Number(s): EPRI-AP-2814; ON: DE83901450
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
COAL GASIFICATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DATA
ELEMENTS
ENTRAINMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GASIFICATION
INFORMATION
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN
PILOT PLANTS
TEXACO GASIFICATION PROCESS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES