Converting solid fuels to gaseous and liquid fuels

Claim 1

A process for the production of liquid and gaseous fuels from coal which comprises admixing crushed coal with cobalt tetroxide catalyst; introducing said mixture into a coal-oil extractor with hydrogen; extracting liquids and gases from said coal while partially hydrogenating same at a temperature of from about 500° to about 900° F; removing gaseous and vaporized liquids, desulfurizing and recovering as products; removing the coal, oil and catalyst to a high pressure hydrogenator and hydrogenating the mixture at pressures of from about 500 to about 5,000 psig; removing the hydrogenated oil, coal ash and catalyst to a coal reactor having upper middle, and lower zones; admixing therewith hot sand, at a temperature of from about 800° to about 1,600° F; cracking said oils in the upper zone of said coal reactor as the admixture flows downward through said coal reactor; removing vaporized light oils to the coal-oil extractor; reacting carbon-coated sand coal ash and catalyst in the middle zone of said coal reactor with a source of oxygen to gasify carbon to primarily carbon monoxide; removing decarbonized ash and catalyst to a separator, separating and removing said ash from the system and returning said catalyst to the coal extractor; feeding cobalt tetroxide and steam to the lower zone of the coal reactor, converting residual carbon and carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide; removing said sand and cobalt from the lower zone to a separator, regenerating cobalt metal with air, and returning said sand and cobalt tetroxide to the coal reactor in a cyclic, continuous process; removing hot producer gas from the middle zone of the reactor, desulfurizing and recovering as product.