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Title: Experimental program for the development of peat gasification. Interim report No. 5: Process design and cost estimates for a 250 billion Btu/Day SNG from peat plant by he PEATGAS Process

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6245791· OSTI ID:6245791

This report presents a process design and cost estimate of a plant for the production of 250 billion Btu's of SNG per stream day from a Minnesota peat by the PEATGAS Process. The plant is self-sufficient, generating all steam and power (including that needed for oxygen production) from the peat. The total daily plant requirement of milled peat with a 50% water content is estimated at about 56,300 tons. Of this total, 78% is used in the reactor; the rest is used as boiler fuel. In the PEATGAS Process peat is gasified in a two-stage reactor at 500 psig. The process makes about 78% of the total methane directly within the reactor. The plant produces by-product hydrocarbon liquids: 136,000 gal/day of benzene and 280,560 gal/day of aromatic oils. These liquid by-products account for 18.2% of the total heating value of all products. The total daily fuel (SNG + liquids) output of the plant is 309 billion Btu. Other by-products from the plant include 546 tons/day of anhydrous ammonia and 52 long tons/day of sulfur. Overall plant thermal efficiency is estimated to be 67%. On the basis of early 1978 dollars the total plant cost is $942 million, and the total capital requirement is $1191 million. The estimated price of the product gas is based on utility-type financial factors. With milled peat at 75 cents/10/sup 6/ Btu, the 20-year average price of product is $3.06/10/sup 6/ Btu. The gas price sensitivity to peat cost: a 1 cent change in peat cost changes gas price by about 2 cents. A modification of the base case in which the milled peat is dried to 35% H/sub 2/O in an external peat-fueled dryer before feeding to the PEATGAS reactor was also evaluated. Preliminary evaluation of the modifieddesign indicates a possible savings of about 25 cents in the gas price because the dryer heat load in the gasifier is reduced and results in savings of oxygen and process steam.

Research Organization:
Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
EX-76-C-01-2469
OSTI ID:
6245791
Report Number(s):
FE-2469-34
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English