Flash hydropyrolysis of coal. Quarterly report No. 2, April 1--June 30, 1977

With the combination of low hydrogen to coal ratio, high coal feed rate and larger total quantity of coal fed, considerable liquid product is being condensed and collected. Experimental runs conducted at 750/sup 0/C and 800/sup 0/C at pressures up to 3000 psi of hydrogen show overall hydrocarbon yields and particularly gaseous hydrocarbon yields to increase with pressure to approximately 60 percent at 3000 psi. At 750/sup 0/C approximately one third (20 percent) of this yield is in the form of liquid products (half BTX and half greater than or equal to C/sub 9/) while at 800/sup 0/C the yield is almost all methane with less than 3 percent of liquids produced. Preliminary results of the effect of residence time on product yield and distribution shows that at 3000 psi of hydrogen and 800/sup 0/C, gaseous product yield increase and liquid yields decrease as the residence time is increased from 2.3 to 9.2 seconds. Under almost identical conditions at 750/sup 0/C, all product yields increased with approximately the same increase in residence time. Economic studies of the Flash Hydropyrolysis Process (FHP) are continuing. A detailed analysis of a 25,000 ton/day coal conversion plant utilizing FHP shows the discounted cash flow (DCF) to be strongly dependent upon the operating pressure of the reactor, increasing by almost a factor of two as the pressure is reduced from 4000 psi to 500 psi. The DCF is also shown to be influenced by the distribution of products, increasing as the yields of liquids increase