DOE SEEKING COAL LIQUEFACTION PROPOSALS

Jan. 22, 1990
The U.S. Department of Energy is asking industry and universities for research proposals to convert coal into liquid fuels at costs competitive with imported oil. DOE said the potential of recent innovations has encouraged it to look for new approaches to reduce the cost of liquids from coal, essentially placing a lid at about $25/bbl on the price of imported oil. A two stage process at DOE's Wilsonville, Ala., pilot plant has produced substantial improvements in coal liquefaction

The U.S. Department of Energy is asking industry and universities for research proposals to convert coal into liquid fuels at costs competitive with imported oil.

DOE said the potential of recent innovations has encouraged it to look for new approaches to reduce the cost of liquids from coal, essentially placing a lid at about $25/bbl on the price of imported oil.

A two stage process at DOE's Wilsonville, Ala., pilot plant has produced substantial improvements in coal liquefaction technology when compared with pilot plants that operated during the 1970s.

Liquid yields have increased more than 30%, so 3.3 bbl of liquids can be produced from a ton of coal, compared with 2.5 bbl/ton in earlier processes.

DOE said product quality is improved, so the fuel is about $5/bbl more valuable than crude oil.

The two stage reaction system also allows for less severe operating conditions, thus reducing construction, operation, and maintenance costs.

DOE estimated the current two stage technology can produce liquid fuels in the range of $38/bbl, compared with $52 a decade ago.

Because of improved quality, these products could compete with a crude oil product at about $33/bbl, the agency said.

More refinements to the two stage process-doubling the catalyst's life, improving catalyst selectivity, and using low ash coals, for example-could further reduce costs, but these improvements are limited.

Instead, DOE wants development of a substantially modified process that can "leapfrog" those incremental improvements.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS

The new liquefaction process might reflect these improvements that have emerged from research efforts and design studies:

  • Physical, chemical and/or biological pretreatment of coal, including agglomeration with coal-derived recycle oil, that can result in an improved product yield or milder reaction conditions.

  • Upgraded slurry solvents, including hydrogenation of vacuum bottoms and hydropyrolysis of coal to produce additional liquids and lower cost hydrogen.

  • New reactor configurations, including variations in staging, as well as fixed bed reactors and slurry phase reactors with dispersed catalyst.

  • Alternate bottoms processing, such as coking, propane deasphalting, and centrifugation.

DOE is looking for a process that integrates one or more of those or other concepts in a system that will achieve the greatest cost reduction.

It plans a two phase program.

In the first phase, 2 years of laboratory scale testing will lead to a preliminary cost estimate and process evaluation. Based on these data, DOE will select one or more processes for continuous testing at a bench scale facility.

In the second, 3 year phase, the contractor may use either DOE's generic bench scale liquefaction unit at the Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center or another suitable facility.

DOE plans to make multiple awards in the research phase, but bench scale testing will be competitive and based on the laboratory scale results.

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