ILLINOIS PROJECT AIMS FOR PRODUCTS FROM COAL

A project to produce a variety of products, including chemical feedstocks and transportation fuels, from coal is taking shape in Illinois. The project team is headed by Kerr-McGee Coal Corp., which will provide the coal and oversee the program. The Institute of Gas Technology (IGT), Chicago, said plans call for about $18 million in public and private funds for design, construction, and operation of an experimental plant scheduled to use IGT's advanced mild gasification concept.

July 22, 1991

2 min read

A project to produce a variety of products, including chemical feedstocks and transportation fuels, from coal is taking shape in Illinois.

The project team is headed by Kerr-McGee Coal Corp., which will provide the coal and oversee the program.

The Institute of Gas Technology (IGT), Chicago, said plans call for about $18 million in public and private funds for design, construction, and operation of an experimental plant scheduled to use IGT's advanced mild gasification concept.

Construction of the 24 ton/day plant at the Illinois Coal Development Park near Carterville is to begin within 1 year. The 3 year program will provide data for scaleup, production of coproducts for industrial evaluation, preparation of a detailed design for a larger demonstration unit, and development of commercialization plans.

The plant will produce a slate of solid and liquid products. Char will be used as a boiler fuel and to make form coke for the metallurgical industry. Liquids will be used to produce chemicals, including pitch, and liquid fuels.

In the mild gasification process coal is heated at moderate temperatures and pressures. The process incorporates a combined fluidized bed/entrained bed reactor designed to handle all types of eastern caking and western noncaking coals.

Mild operating conditions and process simplicity mean gasification plants can be built with available materials, using well known engineering design and construction practices, IGT said.

WHO WILL DO WHAT

As prime subcontractor to Kerr-McGee, IGT will supply technology and coordinate activities of team members.

Members include Bechtel Corp., which will design and construct the plant, and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, which will operate the unit under IGT guidelines and test the char's suitability for fluidized bed combustion in power plants.

General Motors Corp. and Pellet Technology Corp. will evaluate form coke for foundry use, LTV Steel Co. and Armco Inc. will evaluate form coke for steel production, Reilly Industries Inc. will evaluate liquid products for use as chemical feedstocks, and GM's Allison gas turbine division and Auto Research will evaluate liquids as turbine and transportation fuels, respectively. If negotiations are successful, IGT said, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to award as much as $15 million during the next 3 years to the team. Illinois' Department of Energy and Natural Resources is contributing $3 million, and project participants will provide almost $700,000.