An Economic Process for Coal Liquefaction to Liquid Fuels

78208S Current processes to produce liquid fuels by direct hydrogenation of coal are not cost-effective. Therefore, improved process chemistry and/or reactor design will be required to produce transportation fuels from coal at prices that are competitive with currently used fuels. This project will develop a coal liquefaction process that uses a nanoscale active catalyst precursor in a plug flow reactor system that is suitable for high rates of heat and mass transfer. Phase I will design and fabricate a three-stage plug-flow reactor system for a direct high temperature coal liquefaction process. Short term and long term testing will be conducted to examine the effect of variations in process chemistry and operating parameters on the quality and quantity of liquid fuel production. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The three-stage plug-flow reactor system should lead to higher coal conversion with significant improvement in distillate yield and quality. Because of the low cost reactor system and higher yield of liquid distillate, it is expected that the resultant transportation fuel will have a yield higher than 70 w% at a cost less than $25/bbl. If achieved, it will have a profound impact on the energy industry, leading to less reliance on imported petroleum and the creation of energy-production jobs in the U.S.