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US 4,011,058 AGranted
Production of substitute natural gas from gasification of coal char
AssigneePhillips Petroleum Company
InventorsMarvin M. Johnson, Donald C. Tabler, Gerhard P. Nowack
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A carbonaceous material is converted to a fuel gas which is fungible with natural gas by a combination of steps comprising gasifying the carbonaceous material in the presence of air and carbon dioxide, purifying the effluent stream and separating carbon monoxide therefrom, catalytically reacting steam with the separated carbon monoxide and recovering a methane-rich product gas.
Claims21
A process for the production of a gas comprising methane which comprises, in combination, the steps of
- a. gasifying a solid carbonaceous material at an elevated temperature in the presence of air and carbon dioxide to produce a raw process stream comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen;
- b. cooling, cleaning and purifying said raw process stream to obtain a stream consisting essentially of carbon monoxide and nitrogen;
- c. separating carbon monoxide from said stream consisting essentially of carbon monoxide and nitrogen by contacting said stream in an absorption zone with an absorbent consisting essentially of an inert hydrocarbon diluent and at least one copper sulfonate, wherein said carbon monoxide is taken up in said absorbent, withdrawing from said absorption zone a stream consisting essentially of nitrogen and a stream consisting essentially of said absorbent and said carbon monoxide, passing said stream consisting essentially of absorbent and carbon monoxide to a desorption zone, separating in said desorption zone said carbon monoxide from said absorbent and withdrawing said carbon monoxide from said desorption zone;
- d. combining stream with said separated carbon monoxide and reacting the resulting CO/steam mixture in a catalytic methanation zone to produce an effluent gas stream consisting essentially of carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen;
- and
- e. cooling said effluent gas stream and separating impurities therefrom to produce a product stream comprising methane.
3 more elements
A process for the production of a gas comprising methane which comprises, in combination, the steps of
- a. gasifying a solid carbonaceous material at an elevated temperature in the presence of air and carbon dioxide to produce a raw process stream comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen;
- b. cooling, cleaning and purifying said raw process stream to obtain a stream consisting essentially of carbon monoxide and nitrogen;
- c. separating carbon monoxide from said stream consisting essentially of carbon monoxide and nitrogen;
- d. combining steam with the separated carbon monoxide and reacting the resulting CO/steam mixture in a catalytic methanation zone by contacting said mixture with a methanation catalyst consisting essentially of nickel, a promoter selected from the group consisting of barium and uranium, and a calcium phosphate support having a Ca:P atomic ratio in the range of 1.4:1 to 2.3:1, wherein the components are present in approximate amounts as follows:
- ______________________________________ Calcium 5 to 35, Phosphorus 2 to 20, Nickel 10 to 50 and either Barium 1 to 20, or Uranium 2 to 40, ______________________________________
- all said amounts expressed in terms of weight percent, based upon the weight of the total catalyst, thereby producing an effluent gas stream consisting essentially of carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen;
- and
- e. cooling said effluent gas stream and separating impurities therefrom to produce a product stream comprising methane.
5 more elements
A process for the production of a gas comprising methane which comprises, in combination, the steps of
- a. gasifying a solid carbonaceous material at an elevated temperature in the presence of air and carbon dioxide to produce a raw process stream comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen;
- b. cooling, cleaning and purifying said raw process stream to obtain a stream consisting essentially of carbon monoxide and nitrogen;
- c. separating carbon monoxide from said stream consisting essentially of carbon monoxide and nitrogen by contacting said stream in an absorption zone with an absorbent consisting essentially of an inert hydrocarbon diluent and at least one copper sulfonate, wherein said carbon monoxide is taken up in said absorbent, withdrawing from said absorption zone a stream consisting essentially of nitrogen and a stream consisting essentially of said absorbent and said carbon monoxide, passing said stream consisting essentially of absorbent and carbon monoxide to a desorption zone, separation in said desorption zone said carbon monoxide from said absorbent and withdrawing said carbon monoxide from said desorption zone;
- d. combining steam with the separated carbon monoxide and reacting the resulting CO/steam mixture in a catalytic methanation zone by contacting said mixture with a methanation catalyst consisting essentially of nickel, a promoter selected from the group consisting of barium and uranium, and a calcium phosphate support having a Ca:P atomic ratio in the range of 1.4:1 to 2.3:1, wherein the components are present in approximate amounts as follows:
- ______________________________________ Calcium 5 to 35, Phosphorus 2 to 20, Nickel 10 to 50, and either Barium 1 to 20, or Uranium 2 to 40, ______________________________________
- all said amounts expressed in terms of weight percent, based upon the weight of the total catalyst, thereby producing an effluent gas stream consisting essentially of carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen;
- and
- e. cooling said effluent gas stream and separating impurities therefrom to produce a product stream comprising methane.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.