US4158637A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Conversion of coal into hydrocarbons
Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
•
Filing: 1976-04-30
•
Granted: 1979-06-19
•
Expires: 1996-04-30
Abstract
Abstract Hydrocarbons are formed of coal and water. The water is converted or dissociated separately into hydrogen and oxygen in a first chemical reactor by thermochemical and/or electrolytic processing. The resulting hydrogen is then reacted with the coal in a second reactor to produce the hydrocarbons. Residual carbon from the second reactor is reacted in a third reactor with oxygen derived from the first reactor to produce carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide is reacted with residual hydrogen from the second reactor or hydrogen from the first reactor to produce additional hydrocarbons. The energy for the endothermic and/or electrolytic processing in the reactors and for auxiliary equipment of the apparatus is supplied by a very high-temperature, gas-cooled, nuclear reactor by heat interchange with the cooling gas, helium. The cooling gas operates through heat-exchange means which isolates the cooling gas from the processing apparatus.
Inventors
- 👤 Andrew R. Jones
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 16:11
CPC Classifications
C; C07; C07C; C07C1/00; C07C1/02; C07C1/04; C07C1/0485; C01; C01B; C01B13/00; C01B13/02; C01B13/0203; C01B13/0207; C10; C10G; C10G1/00; C10G1/06; F; F01; F01K; F01K23/00; F01K23/02; F01K23/06; F01K23/067; Y; Y02; Y02E; Y02E20/00; Y02E20/16; Y02E20/18; Y02E60/00; Y02E60/30; Y02E60/32; Y02P; Y02P20/00; Y02P20/10; Y02P20/129; Y02P30/00; Y02P30/20; Y02P30/40; Y10; Y10S; Y10S208/00; Y10S208/02; Y10S585/00; Y10S585/929; Y10S585/943
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
110 words
The process of converting coal and water at least into the hydrocarbon methane which comprises pulverizing the coal, dissociating the water, separately from the coal and by an electrolytic reaction, into hydrogen and forming sulfuric acid, and by a thermochemical reaction dissociating said sulfuric acid into oxygen, water and sulfur dioxide and circulating said sulfur dioxide to said electrolytic reaction, recovering said hydrogen, and reacting at least a portion of said recovered hydrogen with said pulverized coal to produce said methane, said water being dissociated in reaction: 2 H 2 O→2 H 2 +O 2 and said hydrogen and coal being reacted in reaction: C+2 H 2 →CH 4 .
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
110 words
The process of converting coal and water at least into the hydrocarbon methane which comprises pulverizing the coal, dissociating the water, separately from the coal and by an electrolytic reaction, into hydrogen and forming sulfuric acid, and by a thermochemical reaction dissociating said sulfuric acid into oxygen, water and sulfur dioxide and circulating said sulfur dioxide to said electrolytic reaction, recovering said hydrogen, and reacting at least a portion of said recovered hydrogen with said pulverized coal to produce said methane, said water being dissociated in reaction: 2 H 2 O→2 H 2 +O 2 and said hydrogen and coal being reacted in reaction: C+2 H 2 →CH 4 .
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
98 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein a residue of coal is left from the reaction of the coal and hydrogen, the said process including the steps of recovering oxygen produced by the dissociation in the thermochemical reaction, reacting at least a portion of said recovered oxygen with said residue of coal to produce carbon monoxide in accordance with the reaction: 2 C+O 2 →2 CO, and reacting the carbon monoxide with hydrogen produced by the dissociation in the eletrolytic reaction to prodce additional methane in accordance with the reaction: CO+3 H 2 →CH 4 +H 2 O.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
126 words
The process of converting water and coal into hydrocarbons which comprises pulverizing the coal, dissociating the water, separately from the coal, and by an electrolytic reaction, into hydrogen and forming sulfuric acid, and by a thermochemical reaction dissociating said sulfuric acid into oxygen, water and sulfur dioxide, recovering said oxygen, reacting a portion of said coal with a portion of said recovered oxygen to provide heat to pyrolize the remainder of said coal, recovering the volatile products produced by pyrolizing said coal, recovering said hydrogen, reacting the said recovered volatile products with a portion of said recovered hydrogen to produce syncrude, recovering the char resulting from said pyrolysis of the coal, and reacting said recovered char with another portion of said recovered hydrogen to produce methane.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
126 words
The process of converting water and coal into hydrocarbons which comprises pulverizing the coal, dissociating the water, separately from the coal, and by an electrolytic reaction, into hydrogen and forming sulfuric acid, and by a thermochemical reaction dissociating said sulfuric acid into oxygen, water and sulfur dioxide, recovering said oxygen, reacting a portion of said coal with a portion of said recovered oxygen to provide heat to pyrolize the remainder of said coal, recovering the volatile products produced by pyrolizing said coal, recovering said hydrogen, reacting the said recovered volatile products with a portion of said recovered hydrogen to produce syncrude, recovering the char resulting from said pyrolysis of the coal, and reacting said recovered char with another portion of said recovered hydrogen to produce methane.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
51 words
The process of claim 1 including the steps of recovering the residual char, resulting from the reaction of the char with hydrogen, reacting said residal char with another portion of the recovered oxygen to produce carbon monoxide, reacting said carbon monoxide with another portion of the recovered hydrogen to produce methanol.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
88 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the energy for the electrolytic reaction and also the energy for the thermochemical reaction are derived from a high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor, and the process includes the step of circulating the high-temperature gas of said reactor physically isolated from, but in thermal exchange relationship with, the water and sulfric acid of the electrolytic reaction to provide the energy for said electrolytic reaction and with the sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide of the thermochemical reaction to provide the energy for the thermochemical reaction.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
118 words
The process of dissociating water with apparatus including a high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor, an electrolytic cell and thermochemical reacting means, said electrolytic cell including water to be dissociated; sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide, the said method comprising circulating high-temperature gas physically isolated from, but in energy-exchange relationship with, the electrolytic cell to provide energy for said cell, dissociating the water in said cell to form hydrogen and also forming said sulfuric acid from said water and said sulfur dioxide, and circulating said high-temperature gas physically isolated from, but in heat exchange relationship with, said thermochemical means to dissociate said sulfuric acid into oxygen and said sulfur dioxide and also circulating said sulfur dioxide back to said electrolytic cell.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
118 words
The process of dissociating water with apparatus including a high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor, an electrolytic cell and thermochemical reacting means, said electrolytic cell including water to be dissociated; sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide, the said method comprising circulating high-temperature gas physically isolated from, but in energy-exchange relationship with, the electrolytic cell to provide energy for said cell, dissociating the water in said cell to form hydrogen and also forming said sulfuric acid from said water and said sulfur dioxide, and circulating said high-temperature gas physically isolated from, but in heat exchange relationship with, said thermochemical means to dissociate said sulfuric acid into oxygen and said sulfur dioxide and also circulating said sulfur dioxide back to said electrolytic cell.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
98 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein a residue of coal is left from the reaction of the coal and hydrogen, the said process including the steps of recovering the oxygen produced by the dissociation in the thermochemical reaction, reacting a portion of the recovered oxygen with said residue of coal to produce carbon monoxide in accordance with the reaction: 2 C+O 2 →2 CO, and reacting the carbon monoxide with a portion of the recovered hydrogen produced by dissociation in the electrolytic reaction to produce methanol in accordance with the reaction: CO+2 H 2 →CH 3 OH.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
72 words
The process of claim 1 wherein the electrolytic reaction takes place in a medium including water and sulfur dioxide, and produces hydrogen and sulfuric acid in accordance with the electrolytic reaction: 2 H.sub.2 O.sub.(1) +SO.sub.2(g) →H.sub.2(g) +H.sub.2 SO.sub.4(aq) and the sulfuric acid is dissociated in the thermochemical reaction: H.sub.2 SO.sub.4(1) →H.sub.2 O.sub.(1) +SO.sub.2(g) +1/2O.sub.2(g) to produce oxygen and SO 2 , the said SO 2 being circulated back to the electrolytic reaction.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
65 words
The process of claim 6 wherein the electrolytic cell includes water and sulfur dioxide and produces hydrogen and sulfuric acid in the electrolytic reaction: 2 H.sub.2 O.sub.(1) +SO.sub.2(g) →H.sub.2(g) +H.sub.2 SO.sub.4(aq) and the sulfuric acid is dissociated in the thermochemical reaction: H.sub.2 SO.sub.4(1) →H.sub.2 O.sub.(1) +SO.sub.2(g) +1/2O.sub.2(g) to produce oxygen and SO 2 , the said SO 2 being circulated back to the electrolytic cell.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US2634286A
Cited
US2756194A
Cited
US2964551A
Cited
US3075912A
Cited
US3347647A
Cited
US3556749A
Cited
US3870611A
Cited
US3888750A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1982-06-18 | 1982-12-18 | 1983-06-19 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1986-06-18 | 1986-12-18 | 1987-06-19 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1990-06-18 | 1990-12-18 | 1991-06-19 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |