(545d) Conversion of Coal and Biomass to Liquid Hydrocarbons Using Gasification and a Hybrid Fischer Tropsch Catalyst

Ceramatec is leading a team to develop a two (2) BPD (barrel per day) Fischer Tropsch system to produce jet fuel.  Funding is provided by the United States Air Force, through the US Department of Energy - National Energy Technology Laboratory.  The feedstock for the system will be pulverized coal with some biomass to meet carbon emission limitations.  The coal - biomass will be gasified and the resultant synthesis gas compressed to pressures suitable for Fischer Tropsch (FT).  The synthesis gas stream will be cleaned using a sulfur removal system provided by IntraMicron, a company located in Auburn, AL.  The clean synthesis gas will be fed to a 2 BPD modular FT reactor designed and assembled by Ceramatec. 

Ceramatec is currently operating a small GTL facility at its Salt Lake City laboratory and portions of this facility will be used for this program also.  The sulfur removal system and the 2 BPD FT reactor will be tested at this existing facility prior to shipment to the gasifier location for testing with the coal - biomass derived synthesis gas.  A hybrid FT catalyst capable of terminating carbon chain growth in the liquids range will be used in the FT reactor.

The objectives and challenges of the 2 BPD CTL (coal-to-liquids) project will be described in the presentation.  The presentation will also describe the capabilities of the team to address the issues associated with development of that integrated 2 BPD CTL system.  The test data generated to date will be presented to demonstrate how the issues are being addressed.  This data will include the carbon distribution on various test runs, catalyst performance, and synthesis gas utilization.  The design for the integrated CTL facility will be described and individual components highlighted.  Other relevant technical data from associated projects will be presented.