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United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub US 20130020189A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2013/0020189 A1 Witherspoon (43) Pub. Date: Jan. 24, 2013 (54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR Publication Classi?cation LIQUEFACTION AND DISTILLATION OF VOLATILE MATTER WITHIN SOLID (51) Int- Cl CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL C10B 49/02 (2006-01) (52) US. Cl. .......................................... .. 201/29; 202/99 (76) Inventor: Joseph A. Witherspoon, Kaysville, UT (57) ABSTRACT (Us) A method for liquefaction of coal or other solid carbonaceous material includes passing the material through a reformer (21) Appl, No; 13/637,73 3 having a temperature gradient therein, the temperature gradi ent generally increasing as the material ?oWs doWn through . _ the reformer. The more valuable volatile components of the (22) PCT Flled' Apr‘ 8’ 2011 material exit the material at their respective vaporization tem peratures, and pass out of the reformer for processing in (86) PCT NO.I PCT/US2011/031849 condensers. Some of each fraction of the volatile material 371 1 How is re-heated and recycled through the reformer to supply § (C)( ), . _ heat to mamtam the temperature grad1ent, the recycling in] ec (2), (4) Date. Sep. 27, 2012 . t1on occurring at a level beloW that Where the fraction exlted the reformer so that the recycled fraction Will again pass out . of the reformer to be condensed. At the bottom of the Related U's' Apphcatlon Data reformer, the non-volatile portion of the carbonaceous mate (60) Provisional application No. 61/324,151, ?led on Apr. rial is removed from the reformer for further processing or 14, 2010. sale. Y COLD WATER RETURN (CWR) :) COLD WATER SUPPLY (CW5) Cl 52 53> TREATED GAS TO FUEL FRGOM 0 AMINE REGEN. / N UNIT (ARu) STEAM 54 ‘:>—' 34/ TO WATER 30 :> / TREATMENT ~18 ME, To TREATED LPG 1 RECOVERY UQUID TO STORAGE 32¢’ / 82 NAPHTHA AM'NE 4/ CONTACTOR “ii To STORAGE 84 / 22 @5586] 9Q DTSTILLATES 58 R'CH AM‘NE 32d 2;} \/— (70 c To STTAGE % To ARU $351230,‘ 28d 94 9 |——! T 112 FROMMP BOILERSTEAM 326 I G 98 96 104 15,1 38 102 100 BoTLER FEED WATER 40 l I \ \ T 110 106 TO 50% A l T083117 Patent Application Publication Jan. 24, 2013 Sheet 1 0f 2 US 2013/0020189 A1 36 14 26 J 280 30 28d 38 40 FIG. 1 Patent Application Publication Jan. 24, 2013 Sheet 2 of2 US 2013/0020189 A1 AH 20% AH AH AH m<oBEBE :58 315:75 ENE;OH 0%ant/$5 3%0% 215l: 55m20% .25123 5222mm“; US$050% W52;5%156m m>>o @2105OH 25V255$2;58n w Q95&3$2;58 ,2Na N: hf? ii 0%10%; @21050% mm g@555 .@EN ii US 2013/0020189 A1 Jan. 24, 2013 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR [0008] The Karrick process is a loW-temperature carbon LIQUEFACTION AND DISTILLATION OF iZation (LTC) and pyrolysis process of carbonaceous materi VOLATILE MATTER WITHIN SOLID als. Although primarily meant for coal carboniZation, it also CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL could be used for processing of oil shale, lignite or other carbonaceous materials. These are heated at 450° C. (800° F.) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED to 700° C. (1,300° F.) in the absence of air to distill out APPLICATION synthetic fuels-unconventional oil and syngas. The Karrick process may be used for coal liquefaction and for semi-coke [0001] This application claims priority based on US. Pro production. visional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/324,151 ?ledApr. 14, 2010 and titled “Coal Reformation Process,” the disclosure of [0009] In the Karrick process, one short ton of coal yields as Which is incorporated herein by this reference. much as one barrel of oils and coal tars (12% by Weight), 3,000 cubic feet (85 cubic meters) of coal gas and 1,500 BACKGROUND pounds (680 kg) of solid smokeless char or semi-coke (for one metric ton, the results Would be 0.175 m3 of oils and coal [0002] This invention relates to an improved continuous tars, 95 m3 of gas, and 750 kg of semi-coke).Yields by volume feed process for the liquefaction of coal (anthracite, bitumi of approximately 25% gasoline, 10% kerosene and 20% fuel nous, sub-bituminous), gob, bitumen, lignite, oil and tar oil are obtainable from coal. Gasoline obtained from coal by sands, oil shale, and any solid carbonaceous material, includ the Karrick process combined With cracking and re?ning is ing Waste material and plastic material and for the distillation equal in quality to tetraethyl lead gasolines. More poWer is of the volatile matter Within that solid carbonaceous material developed in internal combustion engines and an increase in into high-value products. fuel economy of approximately 20% is obtainable under [0003] Until recent decades despite voluminous amounts of identical operating conditions. The syngas can be converted CO2 emissions and other contaminants, coal providers have to oil by the Fischer-Tropsch process. Coal gas from Karrick experienced very little ecological pressure from govem LTC yields greater energy content than natural gas. ments. While coal is cheap and produces signi?cant quanti [0010] Compared to the Bergius process, the Karrick pro ties of poWer, it is also an international “necessity” because cess is cheaper, requires less Water and destroys less thermal the World could not immediately replace this energy source. value (one-half that of the Bergius process). The smokeless HoWever, as the World has focused on environmental ef?cacy, semi-coke fuel, When burned in an open grate or in boilers, better systems and methods of using the energy stored in coal delivers 20% to 25% more heat than raW coal. The coal gas become more important. should deliver more heat than natural gas per heat unit con [0004] All coal contains varying concentrations of mois tained due to the greater quantity of combined carbon and ture, sulfur, hydrocarbon compounds (referred to as volatile loWer dilution of the combustion gases With Water vapor. matter), inorganic ash-forming components, and other com [0011] The cheapest liquid fuel from coal Will come When ponents. Some of these components have value While other processed by LTC for both liquid fuels and electric poWer. As components are considered contaminants. Synthetic produc a tertiary product of the coal distilling process, electrical tion of liquid fuels (i.e., gasoline and oil substitutes) in the energy can be generated at a minimum equipment cost. A United States has a long history. In the 19th century, doZens of Karrick LTC plant With one kiloton of daily coal capacity facilities produced oil, gas, grease and paraf?n from coal, but produces suf?cient steam to generate 100,000 kiloWatt hours by 1873, cheap petroleum caused the last coal oil plant to of electrical poWer at no extra cost excepting capital invest close. In addition, commercial scale shale oil extraction ment for electrical equipment and loss of steam temperature began in 1857 at shale oil retorts retorting the Devonian oil passing through turbines. The process steam cost could be shale along the Ohio River Valley. HoWever, after crude oil loW since this steam could be derived from off-peak boiler discovery in Pennsylvania in 1859, oil shale industries found capacity or from turbines in central electric stations. Fuel for it dif?cult to compete and they Were shut doWn by 1861. steam and superheating Would subsequently be reduced in [0005] Historically, economics has been a major impedi cost. ment to coal liquefaction. Until recent years oil has been easy [0012] Although a Karrick pilot plant Was successfully to ?nd and produce. In addition, a poWerful liquid oil industry operated in 1935, there is some question as to Whether a has lobbied and maintained a unique control over domestic oil modern commercial Karrick LTC process plant Would fail production. The international landscape is noW aWare of the due to mechanical problems, a postulation based on previous imminent danger of deep Water drilling for oil as evidenced failures of other plants using different processes under differ by the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in ent conditions. It is indeterminate as to hoW “scaleable” the April of 2010. technology is for large-scale production. When oil Was sig [0006] There are several processes used for coal liquefac ni?cantly cheaper markets for the described coal products tion. For example, in the Bergius process, developed by Were limited, Which made such a venture economically Friedrich Bergius in 1913, dry coal is mixed With heavy oil unsound. recycled from the process. A catalyst is typically added to the [0013] Other methods of coal liquefaction involve indirect mixture. The reaction occurs at betWeen 400° C. (752° F.) to conversion. Perhaps the main indirect process is the Fischer 5,000° C. (9,030° F.) and 20 to 70 MPa hydrogen pressure. Tropsch process, in Which coal is ?rst gasi?ed to make syngas [0007] Chevron Corporation developed a process that (a balanced puri?ed mixture of CO and H2 gas). Next, Fis involved close-coupling of the non-catalytic dissolver and the cher-Tropsch catalysts are used to convert the syngas into catalytic hydroprocessing unit. The oil produced Was lighter light hydrocarbons (like ethane) that are further processed and had far feWer heteroatom impurities than other coal oils. into gasoline and diesel. This method Was used on a large Apparently, the process Was scaled-up to the 6 ton per day technical scale in Germany betWeen 1934 and 1945 and is level, but has not been proven commercially. currently being used by Sasol in South Africa. In addition to US 2013/0020189 A1 Jan. 24, 2013 creating gasoline, syngas can be converted into methanol, less volatile constituents exit at vapor draWs located closer to Which can be used as a fuel or a fuel additive.
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