PRODUCTION OF SYNGAS BY METHANE AND COAL CO-CONVERSION IN FLUIDIZED BED REACTOR

In this paper we report the concept of coal and natural gas co-conversion operations in a fluidised-bed reactor, which was conceived by the Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCCAS). Based on the features of natural gas reforming and steam gasification of coal, it was suspected that the partially reacted coal char might exert a catalytic effect on the partial oxidation of the gas. This may be best effected in a fluidized-bed reactor operating at about 1000? , eliminating the use of the expensive metal catalyst commonly used for gas reforming. The feedstock of methane needs not to be treated specially, which is most important for drainage-methane utilization because its small quantity oxygen content makes it difficult to concentrate methane. This would enable effective utilization of coal-bed methane, drastically reducing the environmental impact of coal mining and enhancing the utilization of available resources. In addition, the integrated coal gasification and gas reforming offers a further advantage that the H2/CO ratio in the syngas produced can be adjusted between 1 and 3, by varying the ratio of coal/gas in the feedstock, to tailor the syngas to suit downstream processing requirement. The preliminary experiments in a laboratory-scale fluidized-bed reactor has proven the concept to be feasible, achieving over 90 % natural gas conversion with favourable quality of the syngas produced (high H2 and CO content and low CH4 and CO2)