Short residence time hydropyrolysis of carbonaceous material

Claim 2

A process for treating carbonaceous material with hydrogen, in the absence of added catalyst, comprising, in serial combination, a. adding liquid or crushed solid carbonaceous material into a first reaction zone of a reactor having at least two reaction zones; b. adding hot hydrogen to the stream of carbonaceous material to effect a reaction with same at a carbonaceous material heating rate of between about 500° C/second and about 100,000° C/second, a temperature of between about 400° and 2000° C and a pressure of between 500 and 5000 psig; c. quenching the mixture of step b) while insuring that the total residence time of steps b) and c) varies from about 2 milliseconds to about 2 seconds; d. removing at least a portion of the reaction products from said quenched mixture of step c); and e. intoducing the residual carbonaceous material into a subsequent reaction zone and repeating steps (a) - (d) for said subsequent reaction zone.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1, wherein the crushed solid material has an average particle size smaller than about one-half inch.

Claim 4

The process of claim 2, wherein the ratio of carbonaceous material to hydrogen, in the carbonaceous material-hydrogen mixture in each of said reaction zones varies from about 0.05 to about 4.

Claim 5

The process of claim 3, wherein the temperature of the quenched mixture in each reaction zone does not exceed about 200° C.

Claim 6

The process of claim 4, wherein the quenching material is hydrogen at a temperature below 200° C. and the carbonaceous material is coal.

Claim 7

The process of claim 5 wherein said reaction zones are superimposed with respect to each other.

Claim 8

The process of claim 6 wherein said reaction products are removed from the surface of the carbonaceous material.

Claim 9

The process of claim 7 wherein said reactor includes five reaction zones and said carbonaceous material is gravity fed through each of said reaction zones.

Claim 10

A process for converting coal into fluid hydrocarbons comprising the steps of: a. Introducing a continuous stream of finely divided coal into a first reaction zone of a pressure vessel having at least two reaction zones; b. continuously adding hot hydrogen to the first reaction zone of the pressure vessel so as to impinge the coal stream and effect a reaction with same to produce fluid hydrocarbon reaction products with a pressure of between 500 and 5000 psig and a temperature of between about 400° and about 2000° C; c. subsequently quenching the hot hydrogencoal stream within the first reaction zone with cold hydrogen while insuring the total residence time for steps b) and c) varies from about 2 milliseconds and about 2 seconds; d. removing at least a portion of the fluid hydrocarbons from the quenched hydrocarboncoal stream; and e. introducing the residual coal into a subsequent reaction zone and repeating the steps (a) - (e) for the subsequent reaction zone.

Claim 11

A process for converting coal into fluid hydrocarbons comprising the steps of: a. Introducing a continuous stream of finely divided coal into a first reaction zone of a pressure vessel having at least two reaction zones; b. continuously adding hot hydrogen to the first reaction zone of the pressure vessel so as to impinge the coal stream and effect a reaction with same to produce fluid hydrocarbon reaction products with a pressure of between 500 and 5000 psig and a temperature of between about 400° and about 2000° C; c. subsequently quenching the hot hydrogencoal stream within the first reaction zone with cold hydrogen while insuring the total residence time for steps b) and c) varies from about 2 milliseconds and about 2 seconds; d. removing at least a portion of the fluid hydrocarbons from the quenched hydrocarboncoal stream; and e. introducing the residual coal into a subsequent reaction zone and repeating the steps (a) - (e) for the subsequent reaction zone.

Claim 12

The method of claim 9, wherein a. The coal has an average particle size of less than about one-half inch; b. the hydrogen/coal weight ratio of the reaction mixture in each reaction zone varies from about 0.05 to about 4; c. the reaction temperature varies from about 500° to about 1500° C.; d. the reaction pressure varies from about 600 to about 4000 psig; e. the total residence time of hydrogen and coal in each reaction zone is not more than about 1 second; f. the cold hydrogen quenched stream has a temperature of below about 500° C; and g. the separated liquid hydrocarbon steam is further processed.

Claim 13

The method of claim 9, wherein the separated fluid hydrocarbons are further processed.