煤液化技术
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煤炭液化技术[编辑本段] 煤炭液化技术煤炭液化是把固体煤炭通过化学加工过程产品的先进洁净煤技术。
根据不同的加工,使其转化成为液体燃料路线,煤炭液化可分为直接、化工原料和液化和间接液化两大类:一、直接液化直接液化是在高温(400℃以上)、高压(10MPa以上),在催化剂和溶剂作用下使煤的分子进行裂解加氢,直接转化成液体燃料,再进一步加工精制成汽油、柴油等燃料油,又称加氢液化。
1、发展历史煤直接液化技术是由德国人于1913 年发现的,并于二战期间在德国实现了工业化生产。
德国先后有12套煤炭直接液化装置建成投产,到1944年,德国煤炭直接液化工厂的油品生产能力已达到423万吨/年。
二战后,中东地区大量廉价石油的开发,煤炭直接液化工厂失去竞争力并关闭。
70年代初期,由于世界范围内的石油危机,煤炭液化技术又开始活跃起来。
日本、德国、美国等工业发达国家,在原有基础上相继研究开发出一批煤炭直接液化新工艺,其中的大部分研究工作重点是降低反应条件的苛刻度,从而达到降低煤液化油生产成本的目的。
目前世界上有代表性的直接液化工艺是日本的NEDOL 工艺、德国的IGOR工艺和美国的HTI工艺。
这些新直接液化工艺的共同特点是,反应条件与老液化工艺相比大大缓和,压力由40MPa降低至17~30MPa,产油率和油品质量都有较大幅度提高,降低了生产成本。
到目前为止,上述国家均已完成了新工艺技术的处理煤100t/d 级以上大型中间试验,具备了建设大规模液化厂的技术能力。
煤炭直接液化作为曾经工业化的生产技术,在技术上是可行的。
目前国外没有工业化生产厂的主要原因是,在发达国家由于原料煤价格、设备造价和人工费用偏高等导致生产成本偏高,难以与石油竞争。
2、工艺原理煤的分子结构很复杂,一些学者提出了煤的复合结构模型,认为煤的有机质可以设想由以下四个部分复合而成。
第一部分,是以化学共价键结合为主的三维交联的大分子,形成不溶性的刚性网络结构,它的主要前身物来自维管植物中以芳族结构为基础的木质素。
煤炭液化技术煤变油是指将煤转化加工,生产出汽油、柴油、液化石油气等液体燃料的煤液化技术,所谓煤的液化技术,就是在加温、加压的状态下,对煤直接或间接地加氢,使它成为流体化的技术。
煤的液化技术中又可分为煤的直接液化技术和煤的间接液化技术。
第四版煤的直接液化技术煤的直接液化技术是将固体煤在高温高压下与氢反应,将其降解和加氢从而转化为液体油类的工艺,又称加氢液化。
一般情况下,一吨无水无灰煤能转化成半吨以上的液化油。
煤直接液化油可生产洁净优质汽油、柴油和航空燃料。
其工艺主要有Exxon供氢溶剂法(EDS)、氢-煤法等。
EDS法是煤浆在循环的供氢溶剂中与氢混合,溶剂首先通过催化器,拾取氢原子,然后通过液化反应器,释放出氢原子,使煤分解;氢-煤法是采用沸腾床反应器,直接加氢将煤转化成液体燃料。
20世纪80年代开发出的煤-油共炼工艺,提高了煤液化的经济性。
煤-油共炼是煤与渣油混合成油煤浆,再炼制成液体燃料。
由于渣油中含有煤转化过程所需的大部分或全部的氢,从而可以大幅度降低成本。
该工艺是把煤先磨成粉,再和自身产生的液化重油(循环溶剂)配成煤浆,在高温(450℃)和高压(20~30MPa)下直接加氢,将煤转化成汽油、柴油等石油产品,1t无水无灰煤可产500~600kg油,加上制氢用煤,约3~4t原煤产1t成品油。
第五版煤的间接液化技术煤的间接液化技术是先将煤气化,然后合成燃料油和化工原料和产品。
目前,间接液化已在许多国家实现了工业生产,主要分两种生产工艺,一是费托(Fischer-Tropsch)工艺,将原料气直接合成油;二是摩比尔(Mobil)工艺,由原料气合成甲醇,再由甲醇转化成汽油的。
煤间接液化工艺先把煤全部气化成合成气(氢气和一氧化碳),然后再在催化剂存在下合成为汽油。
约5~7t煤产1t油。
间接液化工艺特点:1. 适用煤种比直接液化广泛;2. 可以在现有化肥厂已有气化炉的基础上实现合成汽油;3. 反应压力为3MPa,低于直接液化,反应温度为550℃,高于直接液化;4. 油收率低于直接液化,需5-7t煤出1t油,所以产品油成本比直接液化高出较多。
煤炭直接液化技术总结干净煤技术——直接液化技术一、德国 IGOR工艺1981年,德国鲁尔煤矿企业和费巴石油企业对最早开发的煤加氢裂解为液体燃料的柏吉斯法进行了改良,建成日办理煤200 吨的半工业试验装置,操作压力由本来的70 兆帕降至 30 兆帕,反响温度450~480 摄氏度;固液分别悔过滤、离心为真空闪蒸方法,将难以加氢的沥青烯留在残渣中气化制氢,轻油和中油产率可达50%。
原理图:IGOR直接液化法工艺流程工艺流程:煤与循环溶剂、催化剂、氢气挨次进入煤浆预热器和煤浆反响器,反响后的物料进入高温分流器,由高温分流器下部减压阀排出的重质物料经减压闪蒸,分出残渣和闪蒸油,闪蒸油又经过高压泵打入系统,与高温分别器分出的气体及清油一同进入第一固定床反响器,在此进一步加氢后进入分别器。
中温分别器分出的重质油作为循环溶剂,气体和轻质油气进入第二固定床反响器再次加氢,经过低温分别器分别出提质后的轻质油品,气体经循环氢压机压缩后循环使用。
为了使循环气体中的氢气浓度保持在所需的水平,要增补必定数目的新鲜氢气。
液化油经两步催化加氢,已达成提质加工过程。
油中的氮和硫含量可降低到10-5 数量级。
此产品经直接蒸馏可获取直馏汽油和柴油,再经重整便可获取高辛烷值汽油。
柴油只要加少许增添剂即可获取合格产品。
与其余煤的直接液化工艺对比,IGOR工艺的煤办理能力最大,煤液化反响器的空速为0. 36 ~0. 50 t /( m3·h)。
在反响器相同的条件下,IGOR工艺的生产能力可比其余煤液化工艺超出50%~100%。
因为煤液化粗油的提质加工与煤的液化集为一体,IGOR煤液化工艺产出的煤液化油不单收率高,并且油质量量好。
工艺特色:把循环溶剂加氢和液化油提质加工与煤的直接液化串连在一套高压系统中,防止了分立流程物料降温降压又升温升压带来的能量损失,并在固定床催化剂上使二氧化碳和一氧化碳甲烷化,使碳的损失量降到最小。
投资可节俭 20%左右,并提升了能量效率。
煤直接液化工艺流程
《煤直接液化工艺流程》
煤直接液化是一种将煤直接转化成液体燃料的技术,被广泛应用于煤炭资源的高效利用和清洁能源的生产。
其工艺流程是一个复杂的化工过程,需要多种设备和技术的配合,下面将对其工艺流程进行说明。
首先,煤炭的预处理是整个工艺流程的第一步。
煤炭首先经过破碎、磨矿和筛分等步骤,使得煤炭颗粒的大小和形状更适合后续的反应和转化过程。
然后,煤质的选煤是非常关键的一步,通过密度分离、气浮和湿选等技术,将煤中的灰分和硫分等杂质进行分离,提高煤质的纯度。
接下来是煤的干馏。
将经过预处理的煤炭送入干馏炉中,利用高温和缺氧环境进行反应,将煤转化成气体和液体产物。
在此过程中,煤中的碳、氢、氧、氮等元素都将发生化学变化,产生气化气体和焦油等产品。
然后,气化气体进一步处理。
气化气体中含有一定量的一氧化碳和氢气,在进一步利用前,需要经过净化和变换等步骤,去除其中的杂质并转化成合成气,以便后续的加氢和合成反应。
最后是合成。
通过控制合成气的压力和温度,利用催化剂将合成气经过合成反应,生成液体燃料和化工产品。
整个煤直接液化工艺流程中,合成反应是决定产物品质的关键步骤。
总的来说,煤直接液化是一个复杂而又高效的技术,通过一系列工艺流程将煤炭转化成清洁高效的液体燃料。
随着技术的不断进步和设备的不断完善,相信煤直接液化技术将会在未来发挥更加重要的作用。
2024年煤液化市场前景分析简介煤液化是将煤炭转化为可燃性液体燃料的过程。
随着全球对可再生能源和减少碳排放的需求日益增长,煤液化技术逐渐受到重视。
本文将对煤液化市场的前景进行分析,并探讨其在能源行业中的发展潜力。
煤液化市场规模和趋势按照市场研究报告,煤液化市场在过去几年中取得了显著增长。
随着全球能源需求的增长和化石燃料价格的波动,煤液化作为一种可替代能源的技术备受关注。
煤液化市场预计将在未来几年持续扩大,估计年均增长率将达到x%。
煤液化技术的优势相比于传统煤炭的燃烧,煤液化技术具有以下几个优势: - 可持续性:煤液化是一种利用煤炭资源的可持续方法,有助于减少对传统石油和天然气资源的依赖。
- 低碳排放:煤液化过程能有效减少二氧化碳和其他有害气体的排放,有助于应对气候变化挑战。
- 高能效:煤液化技术可以使煤炭的能源潜力充分释放,提高能源利用效率。
煤液化市场的挑战尽管煤液化市场有广阔的发展前景,但也面临着一些挑战和限制因素: - 技术成本:煤液化技术的研发和实施成本相对较高,需要大量的资金投入和相关设施建设。
- 环境问题:煤液化过程中产生的废水和废气排放可能对环境造成一定的影响,需要加强环境监管和控制措施。
- 竞争压力:与其他可再生能源和替代能源相比,煤液化市场面临竞争压力,需要不断提升技术水平和市场竞争力。
煤液化市场的机遇尽管面临挑战,煤液化市场依然存在许多机遇: - 新兴市场需求增长:一些新兴经济体的能源需求不断增长,煤液化作为一种可替代能源具有巨大市场潜力。
- 政策支持:各国政府在可再生能源和减少碳排放方面采取积极政策,为煤液化市场的发展提供了有利环境。
- 技术创新:煤液化技术不断创新,新的技术进展有望降低成本、提高效率,进一步推动市场发展。
结论综上所述,煤液化市场具有广阔的前景和发展潜力。
随着全球能源需求的增长和可再生能源的发展,煤液化作为一种可替代能源技术将扮演重要角色。
然而,煤液化市场仍然面临一些挑战,需要加强技术创新和环境管理,以提高市场竞争力和可持续发展能力。
Chemical Engineering Science65(2010)12--17Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemical Engineering Science journal homepage:w w w.e l s e v i e r.c o m/l o c a t e/c esCoal liquefaction technologies—Development in China and challenges in chemical reaction engineeringZhenyu Liu a,∗,Shidong Shi b,Yongwang Li ca State Key Laboratory of Chemical Recourse Engineering,Beijing University of Chemical Technology,Box35,15BeiSanhuan East Road,Beijing100029,PR Chinab China Coal Research Institute,5Qingniangou Road,Beijing100013,PR Chinac State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion,Institute of Coal Chemistry,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Taiyuan030001,PR ChinaA R T I C L E I N F O AB S T R AC TArticle history:Received16October2008Received in revised form10May2009 Accepted12May2009Available online18May2009Keywords:Reaction engineeringCatalysisEnergyFuelDirect coal liquefactionIndirect coal liquefactionFTS With fast increasing demand in liquid transportation fuels,limited and unevenly distributed petroleum resources,and volatile petroleum prices,coal liquefaction technologies have again received the world's attention since the beginning of this century.China has actively pursued R&D of coal liquefaction tech-nologies in the past decade and is deploying the first and the largest direct coal liquefaction plant since WWII and the largest indirect coal liquefaction plants after Sasol,South Africa.This paper analyzes the historical developments of coal liquefaction technologies from science point of view,presents recent de-velopments of the technologies in China,and identifies challenges of the technologies towards successful industrial application.©2009Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.1.IntroductionCoal liquefaction,termed coal to liquid or CTL frequently nowadays,refers to conversion of solid coal into liquid fuels and chemicals.Its main objectives are breaking down of the coal's molec-ular structure and addition of hydrogen(Dadyburjor and Liu,2004). These have been realized mainly through two routes,one is direct hydrogenation of coal,commonly termed direct coal liquefaction or DCL,and the other is breakdown of coal structure into the smallest building blocks,CO and H2,through gasification followed by reac-tions of CO and H2to synthesize liquid products,commonly termed indirect coal liquefaction or ICL.Both routes require reactions at elevated temperatures and pressures in the presence of catalysts.2.History and technological advancementsIt is generally recognized that coal liquefaction technologies were invented in the early20th century in Germany,DCL by Friedrich Bergius at1913that led to a Nobel Prize in chemistry in1931,and ICL by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch at1923that was termed also as F–T synthesis or FTS(Dadyburjor and Liu,2004;Schulz,1999).∗Corresponding author.Tel./fax:+861064421073.E-mail address:liuzy@(Z.Liu).0009-2509/$-see front matter©2009Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.ces.2009.05.014Since then,coal liquefaction technologies underwent various stages of development determined mainly by the availability of petroleum. The first fast development period was before and during World War II(WWII)in Germany,UK,France,and Japan due to urgent needs of liquid transportation fuels.The peak production capacities in Ger-many alone reached4.23Mt/y for DCL and0.59Mt/y for FTS.The DCL process was operated at around470◦C and70MPa with iron catalysts initially,while FTS at100–400◦C and0.1–0.2MPa over cobalt catalysts and5–100MPa over supported ruthenium catalysts (Dadyburjor and Liu,2004).The discovery of inexpensive petroleum in Mid-East in1950s ceased essentially all the coal liquefaction developments in the world except that in South Africa due to its unavailability of petroleum.This led to the greatest developments and successes in FTS in South Africa as is still being witnessed today with operation of Sasol plants and annual productions of5Mt transportation fuels and2.6Mt chemicals. The early technology was based on the developments in Germany and US.The development of Sasol FTS technology since then can be reviewed in terms of its product strategy.The earlier technology (Sasol I)produced mainly fuels with limited chemicals due to strate-gic considerations.Since mid1970s the production orientated more to chemicals(Sasol II and III),which led to significant improvements in plant economy.Starting from this century,the technology was further advanced and characterized by higher product flexibility, direct production of chemicals and lower separation costs(Gibson, 2007).This evolution was made possible by advancements inZ.Liu et al./Chemical Engineering Science 65(2010)12--1713T e c h n i c a l l e v e lFig.1.Developments of Sasol technology.05000100001500020000250001950YearR e a c t o r C a p a c i t y , b b l /d196019701980199020002010Fig.2.FTS reactor developments at Sasol (Geertsema,2005).reactor and catalysts as indicated in Fig.1.The development in reac-tor was from fixed-bed Arge reactors to slurry phase SSBR reactors,and from circulating fluidized-bed Synthol reactors to fix-fluidized-bed SAS reactors.The reactor capacity increased from 700bbl/d in 1985for an Arge reactor to 17000bbl/d in 2001for a SSBR reactor,and from 8000bbl/d in 1987for a Synthol reactor to 20000bbl/d in 1995for a SAS reactor as shown in Fig.2(Geertsema,2005).Different from the continued and systematic developments in FTS in South Africa,interests in DCL resumed in 1970s in many countries such as US,Germany,Japan,UK and former USSR due to high petroleum prices.Since then many processes were developed as shown in Table 1.The technology advanced significantly as in-dicated by decreases in pressure,from 70MPa to about 20MPa,increases in oil yield,from 44%of SRC-II to 58%of IGOR and NEDOL and to more than 60%of CTSL (Dadyburjor and Liu,2004)and Shen-hua,and decreases in cost,from an equivalent crude price of $50/bbl in 1970s to about $35/bbl in mid 1990s (Coal:Energy for the Future,1995).The developments,however,were discontinuous and none of the processes went to commercial production except Shenhua.It is important to note that with many processes been invented and tested in many countries in this period,the DCL processes were imprecisely categorized.Some processes contained one or two coal-to-liquid steps and were termed accordingly as single-stage or two-stage liquefaction process,respectively.But some other pro-cesses included a primary liquid product upgrading step (partially for hydrogenation of recycle solvent)in addition to a coal-to-liquid step and were termed also two-stage liquefaction process (Coal Liquefaction,1999).In principle,to produce market acceptable liquid fuels many hydrogenation steps are needed to upgrade the primary DCL liquids but these hydrogenation steps,however,should not be included in general in a DCL process.Therefore,a precise definition of a DCL process considers only the processing steps forTable 1DCL technologies developed since1970s (Dadyburjor and Liu,2004;Li,2006).Country Process Capacity (t /d )Time U.S.SCRI 61974SRCI/II 50/251974–1981EDS 2501979–1983H-Coal 6001979–1982CTSL 21985–1992HTI 31990sGermanyIGOR +2001981–1987PYROSOL61977–1988JapanBCL 501986–1990NEDOL 1501996–1998UK LSE 2.51983–1995USSR CT-571986–1990ChinaShenhua 62002–Shenhua 30002004–T e c h n i c a l l e v e lFig.3.Developments of DCL technology (Note:HP stands for high pressure).hydrogenation of coal (solid),i.e.an N -stage DCL process refers to hydrogenation of coal (solid)consecutively at N different conditions.It is recognized that DCL mechanisms are very complex and not yet known entirely.The prevailing understanding is that DCL con-sists of two fundamental and consecutive reactions,cracking of coal structure to generate free radical fragments and capping or hydro-genation of the free radical fragments into products,although the products may crack further and then be hydrogenated again.Bal-ance of these two reactions governs the performance of a DCL pro-cess.Insufficient hydrogenation of the free radical fragments would result in retrograde reactions between the free radical fragments,which lead to formation of solid coke,a group of products chemi-cally more stable than coal.Clearly,for high oil yields the coal struc-ture should be fully cracked and the free radical fragments gener-ated should be fully hydrogenated.The developments of DCL tech-nology can be viewed along this line as attempts to balance or match these two fundamental reactions.These attempts can be character-ized into three phases as shown in Fig.3.The first phase was before 1950during which the free radical fragment generation and hydro-genation reactions were conducted in a single reactor (single stage)under extremely severe conditions (especially at high H 2pressures,noted as HP in the figure)to ensure a high hydrogenation capability.The second phase was between 1970s and 1990s.Although the two reactions were still carried out in one reactor (single stage)but the conditions used were much milder,due to the use of hydrogenated recycle solvents as in EDS,IGOR +,LSE,BCL and NEDOL,and the use of active catalysts as in H-Coal.14Z.Liu et al./Chemical Engineering Science 65(2010)12--17The unique feature of the third phase is to disassemble the free radical fragments generation step in two consecutive reactors,first at a low temperature and then at a high temperature (two stage),as in CTSL in late 1980s,HTI in 1990s,and Shenhua in 2000s.This sim-ple modification significantly reduced peak rates of free radical frag-ments generation,increased hydrogenation efficiency under milder conditions,and increased oil yields to about 70%even in the ab-sence of recycle solvent hydrogenation as in HTI.The oil quality was also improved as indicated by lower S and N contents and higher H contents.The development of DCL technology can also be viewed with respect to catalysts development,from micron-size iron oxides and sulfides,as in the earlier technologies and in IGOR +and NEDOL,to Co and Ni supported on alumina in H-Coal and CTSL,and then to the nano sized and disposable iron in HTI and Shenhua.This trend not only increased DCL efficiency at reduced costs but also results in advancement in DCL reactor,from bubble columns in the early days to ebullated-bed reactors in CTSL,HTI and Shenhua.3.Development and current status of coal liquefaction technologies in ChinaChina is a fast developing country with limited petroleum re-serves.Since 2000its dependence on imported petroleum became significant as indicated in Fig.4.It consumed 346Mt petroleum with 46%been imported in 2007,and is expected to need 450–610Mt petroleum per year with 60–70%been imported in 2020.Produc-tion of transportation fuels from coal has been an important option to lessen the deficiency in petroleum supply (Fletcher et al.,2004;Nolan et al.,2004;Zhao and Gallagher,2007).3.1.Development and current status of DCL in ChinaChina's DCL research started in late 1970s.The emphases were on evaluation of Chinese coals and understanding of DCL boratory reactors of various scales were used,including two 0.1t(coal)/d bench scale continues units built at China Coal Research Institute (CCRI)in 1980s based on IGOR and NEDOL processes.Since 2000,Shenhua Group,the largest coal company in China,devel-oped a two stage DCL scheme and a catalyst with support from CCRI.The scheme was fully tested in a 0.1t(coal)/d bench scale DCL unit (BSU)and a 6t(coal)/d process development unit (PDU).200050100150200250300350P e t r o l e u m , M tYear2001200220032004200520062007Fig.4.Annual petroleum consumption inChina.Fig. 5.Construction of a Shenhua DCL plant (1Mt/y)at Inner Mongolia in 2008(Sun,2008).The catalyst preparation technique was evaluated at a 0.2t/d catalyst preparation PDU.These developments led to an ambitious plan to build industrial scale DCL plants with a total capacity of 3Mt(oil)/y in 2010s.By the end of 2008,construction of the first production line with a capacity of 1Mt(oil)/y was completed in Inner Mongolia (Fig.5),which will produce 778600t/y of ultra-clean and low sul-fur diesel fuel,229800t/y of naphtha and 101800t/y of LPG.This is the only industrial DCL plant in the world since WWII.The charac-teristics of the Shenhua process include:(1)two ebullated reactors in series operated at around 455◦C;(2)nano-size iron catalyst pre-pared from Fe(SO 4);(3)hydrogenated recycle solvent for a higher hydrogen donor capability.Fundamental researches were carried out with supports mainly from Chinese government to support the fast developments in DCL.Topics cover essentially all aspects of DCL technology (Shu,2003),including process development (Shi et al.,2003;Zhang et al.,2004;Shu et al.,2006),catalysts (Yang et al.,2002;Zhang et al.,2002;Zhu et al.,2000,2001;Guo et al.,2000;Wang et al.,1999;Liu et al.,2001;Shu et al.,2003)and kinetics (Chen and Guo,2006),reaction engineering and reactor design (Mao et al.,2005)and simulation (Yang and Mao,2005;Wang et al.,2006a ),rheological properties of slurry (Chang et al.,2005;Wang et al.,2006b ;Li et al.,2006;Zhang et al.,2006a ;Zhu et al.,2006),products upgrading and utilization (Li et al.,2008;Cui et al.,2002,2003;Chu et al.,2006),process and plant optimization,and waste treatments.3.2.Development and current status of FTS in ChinaChina had FTS plants as early as in 1940s.During 1950s and early 1960s it had 74FTS units based on BASF's Co catalyst and fixed bed reactors (Li,2006).The annual production was 0.47Mt liquids in 1959(Gao and Zhang,2004)before the discovery of Daqing oil field.In late 1970s China restarted FTS research at the Institute of Coal Chemistry (ICC),Chinese Academy of Science (CAS)with emphases on fused iron catalysts and fixed-bed reactors in 1979–1987and precipitated iron and fixed-bed reactors in 1986–1993.The largest unit was 50bbl/d (Li,2006).ICC/CAS switched research to the slurry phase technology in 1995and had successfully operated a 750t/y slurry phase unit using iron catalysts since 2001(Fig.6).In 2003a Chinese coal company,Yankuang Group,built a 4500t/y FTS facility using also iron catalysts and a slurry reactor.Fundamental researches were also carried out especially at ICC/CAS,including low temperature and high temperature iron catalysts (Zhang et al.,2006b ;Yang et al.,2004,2005;Liu et al.,2008;Chang et al.,2007)and cobalt catalysts (Zhou et al.,2006,2008;Liu et al.,2007;Ma et al.,2004;Zhang et al.,2003,2005;Xiong et al.,2005),reaction mechanisms and kinetics (Teng et al.,2006;Yang et al.,2003),hydrodynamics and reactor designZ.Liu et al./Chemical Engineering Science65(2010)12--1715Fig.6.A750t/y FTS unit at ICC/CAS.Table2Coal liquefaction R&D in China.Types Affiliation Capacity(t/d)Time LocationDCL(oncoal ba-sis)CCRI0.11980s–BeijingShenhua62003(2004a)ShanghaiShenhua60002004(2008a)In.MongoliaF–T(on oilbasis)ICC61980s–ShanxiICC 2.52000–ShanxiYankuang152003–ShandongYitai/ICC5002006(2008a)In.MongoliaLu'an/ICC5002006(2008a)ShanxiDCL Shenhua150002010s In.Mongolia Planned capacity and estimated construction years(on oil basis)F–T Yankuang30002008b ShannxiShenhua/Sasol11000×22016Shannxi/NingxiaShenhua/Shell100002012NingxiaYitai/ICC150002014In.MongoliaLu'an/ICC160002014ShanxiYankuang150002013Shannxia Year in parentheses:operation date.b Estimated construction date.(Wang et al.,2003),product separation and upgrading,process-ing simulation and system integration and optimization.The most notable work was systematic and closely correlated researches on catalysis,mechanism and kinetics,which combined experimental evaluation with advanced instrumental characterization and quan-tum chemistry computation(Wen et al.,2006;Cao et al.,2005a,b; Huo et al.,2007).Based on these developments two160000t/y demonstration plants have been completed at Yitai Group in Inner Mongolia and Lu'an Group in Shanxi through joint venture with Synfuels China and ICC/CAS.Both of the plants use low temperature FTS iron catalysts and are scheduled in operation at the end of2008.Many Chinese coal companies are also active in acquiring FTS technologies,including Yankuang Group,who planned to build a 1Mt/y plant in Shannxi province,and Shenhua Group,who planned to use Sasol and Shell technologies to build three plants with a ca-pacity of3Mt/y each in2010s,as well as Yitai Group and Lu'an Group,each of them planned to built a5Mt/y plant in2010s.These activities are listed in Table2.3.3.Development on CO2sequestrationCO2sequestration has been a major concern in application of coal liquefaction technologies because in a typical coal liquefaction process,about50%carbon in coal is released in the form of CO2. However,it is important to note that this CO2is generated from the gasification or H2making unit and is of high purity,more than98% pure in some cases.To utilize this capture ready CO2,China started CO2sequestration projects with support from the government and foreign countries,including US/DOE(Sun,2008),European Union and international companies such as Shell.The researches include enhanced oil recovery,deep saline water storage and deep coal seam storage.Due to the availability of a huge amount of pure CO2from coal liquefaction plants,these researches may turn into the largest CO2sequestration demonstration project in the world in the near term(Sun,2008).4.Chemical reaction engineering challenges in coal liquefactionAs discussed earlier,DCL and FTS technologies have undergone significant advancement in the past.However,DCL is still immature with little chemical reaction engineering data available in the litera-ture and challenges in almost every aspect of the process.Although FTS is mature and has been successfully practice at industrial scale for50y at Sasol very limited chemical reaction engineering in-formation can be found in the open literature.Furthermore,with increasingly stringent specifications for transportation fuels and environmental requirements for waste management and CO2se-questration,new chemical reaction engineering challenges emerge and need to be addressed also.Low thermal efficiency,about45–55%,has been a major argu-ment of those who oppose practice of coal liquefaction techniques. Since DCL and FTS are all exothermic reactions and the reaction heat released corresponds to about20%of the heat of combustion of the product,reaction temperature control and optimal used of the reac-tion heat are the major challenges in chemical reaction engineering to all coal liquefaction processes.Improvements on this subject re-quire knowledge and advancements in catalysis,reaction kinetics, reactor design,and system modeling and optimization.Coal gasification is a key common unit in all coal liquefaction pro-cesses,for synthesis gas preparation in FTS and H2making in DCL. Pressurized gasifiers with a large throughput and suitable product composition are important for higher thermal efficiency of coal liq-uefaction processes.4.1.Challenges in DCLOne of the major challenges in an industrial DCL process is that the newer technologies,although much more advanced than that of 1940s,have not been demonstrated at large scales,detailed chemical reactions information in the three-phase(gas–liquid–solid)system are not yet known entirely,and the reliability of the key equipments designed today is not confirmed by long-time operations.One ex-ample which had caused suspicion on reliability of a large scale DCL plant is mixing of gas–liquid–solid three-phase system in a large di-ameter slurry phase reactor,poor mixing may result in insufficient hydrogenation of free radical fragments,which leads to coking,as well as sedimentation of solid particles in the reactor.A slurry phase circulating pump was proposed to be installed at the reactor bottom to enforce slurry circulation.However,there has not been such a large scale pump operated at around450◦C and20MPa for a long pe-riod of time.Flow patterns,concentration distributions of coal,cata-lyst and hydrogen,as well as reaction rates of free radical fragments generation and hydrogenation are practically unknown entirely re-gardless the presence or absence of the slurry pump.The lack of this16Z.Liu et al./Chemical Engineering Science65(2010)12--17information made design of the reactor as well as the slurry pre-heater and the high temperature product separator difficult tasks.Reaction mechanism and kinetics are major challenges in DCL also.The present knowledge is superficial with no relation to the molecular structure of coal,little consideration on fundamental steps of hydrogenation or hydrogen-donating and the role of the catalyst. The kinetic models are oversimplified,which has no ability to predict reaction behaviors of other coals and under other conditions.The aromatic nature of DCL products may be another challenge. Although it can be upgraded to meet all the current specifications for transportation fuels,it might be difficult to keep up with the increas-ingly stringent specifications in future at an acceptable cost.Better control of DCL reactions and novel products upgrading techniques are much needed.In summary challenges in DCL technology may include(Coal liquefaction—A research and development needs assessment,1989):•Identify coal structures and structural changes during heating in slurry and correlate them with behaviors of free radical fragments generation.•Design better catalysts for coal liquefaction and product upgrading, especially for feeds of high aromatic and nitrogen contents.•Identify catalysis,mechanism and kinetics for hydrogenation of free radical fragments of coal especially on control of retrograde reactions,as well as the role of H-donor/transfer.•Understand the complex reaction and transport behaviors in three-phase systems.•Design and model high throughput liquefaction reactor and slurry preheaters.•Improve product separation technique especially for liquid–solid separation and for chemical production.•Develop residue processing routes for value added products.•Perform system integration for less utility demands and higher overall efficiency.4.2.Challenges in FTSMuch of the research and process developments in FTS since 1990s were aimed at matching the synthesis conditions with mod-ern coal gasifiers such as those developed by Texaco and Shell,which produce synthesis gases of low H2/CO ratios.While the gasification being a major cost in FTS,gas separation units are the major cost within a gasification process,especially oxygen making,CO2sepa-ration and H2separation units.To directly use the syngas produced from the new gasifiers slurry reactors and iron catalysts were used, separation of the catalysts from the slurry medium,therefore,had been an important challenge,which relates to sizing and chemical and physical stability of the catalyst,properties and hydrodynamics of the slurry medium,and design of the reactor.FTS produces a wide range of products,including light hydrocar-bon gases,paraffinic waxes,and oxygenates.Further processing of these products is crucial for quality diesel and gasoline fractions,and for value added chemicals.In summary challenges and improvements required in FTS may include:•Match FTS reactors with large gasifiers.•Develop efficient and low cost syngas cleaning techniques,and gas separation techniques for O2,H2and CO2.•Engineer catalysts of high activity and low selectivity to CH4and coke at higher temperatures for higher productivity and better energy recovery.•Design high throughput reactors with better energy recovery and catalyst separation.•Identify and model the slurry reactor with detailed reaction kinetics,hydrodynamics and transport phenomena.•Develop better catalysts for heavy product processing and chem-ical production.•Study system integration for less utility usage and higher thermal efficiency and integration for polygeneration.5.Concluding remarksCoal liquefaction technologies have advanced significantly since 1970s and are reviving in respond to volatile oil supply and fast demand for liquid transportation fuels.DCL technology is not yet mature entirely with limited scientific and engineering informa-tion in many aspects.Although ICL is considered mature limited information in chemical reaction engineering is available in the liter-ature.Due to special circumstances China is actively practicing large scale coal liquefaction technologies with support of fundamental and applied researches.These will lead to accumulation of valuable ex-perience and reliable data,identification of new problems in science and engineering,advancement of the technologies,and promotion of China's capability on research and development.The generation of large amounts of pure CO2in coal liquefaction processes will pro-mote CO2sequestration research and lead to large scale demonstra-tions 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