Underground thermal generation of hydrocarbons from dry, southwestern coals

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6875789

Vanderborgh, N E; Elliott, G R.B.

The LASL underground coal conversion concept produces intermediate-BTU fuel gas for nearby industries such as ''minemouth'' electric power plants, plus major byproducts in the form of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons for feedstocks to chemical plants e.g., substitute natural gas (SNG) producers. The concept involves controlling the water influx and drying the coal, generating hydrocarbons, by pyrolysis and finally gasifying the residual char with O/sub 2//CO/sub 2/ or air/CO/sub 2/ mixtures to produce industrial fuel gases. Underground conversion can be frustrated by uncontrolled water in the coal bed. Moisture can (a) prevent combustion, (b) preclude fuel gas formation by lowering reaction zone temperatures and creating kinetic problems, (c) ruin product gas quality by dropping temperatures into a thermodynamically unsatisfactory regime, (d) degrade an initially satisfactory fuel gas by consuming carbon monoxide, (e) waste large amounts of heat, and (f) isolate reaction zones so that the processing will bypass blocks of coal.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6875789
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-78-1438; CONF-780801-11
• Resource Relation: Conference: 13. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 20 Aug 1978
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
IN-SITU GASIFICATION
DRYING
AIR
CHARS
COAL
COAL GASIFICATION
CONTROL
GASIFICATION
OXYGEN
PYROLYSIS
STEAM
WATER
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
DECOMPOSITION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GASES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IN-SITU PROCESSING
NONMETALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
010404* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Gasification