Complex system for utilizing coal in manufacture of char and raw material gas and electric power generation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9334458-B2
Application number	US-201214005440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2012
Priority date	Mar 15, 2011
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

Most of the abundant naturally occurring low rank coal, which has a high moisture content and a high oxygen content, is transported with poor efficiency; utilized for heating with degraded thermal efficiency because of the loss of heat due to sensible heat for heating moisture and latent heat for vaporizing moisture; and utilized in existing coal combustion facilities with difficulty due to a high volatile component content. A complex system of the present invention for utilizing coal for manufacture of char and raw material gas and electric power generation is adopted to include: a drying unit for drying low rank coal of a high moisture content; a reformer for reforming the low rank coal that has been dried in the drying unit; a fluidized bed combustor for employing, as a fuel, the reformed coal obtained in the reformer; a producer gas supply pipe for supplying a combustion exhaust gas from the fluidized bed combustor as a pyrolytic and gasifying agent to the reformer; and a catalyst reforming unit for reforming a volatile component and the producer gas obtained from the low rank coal reformed in the reformer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for conversion of coal to char and hydrocarbon gas, comprising:
a drying unit in communication with an inert gas supply;
a reformer in communication with the drying unit, the reformer comprising:
a pyrolysis unit having a counterflow moving bed supplied with downward flowing low rank coal from the drying unit and an ascending flow of the exhaust gas from a fluidized bed combustor,
a gasification unit in communication with the pyrolysis unit,
a char and ash transfer in communication with the fluidized bed combustor,and
a gas outlet in communication with a catalyst reforming unit; wherein

the fluidized bed combustor comprises:
a supply of oxygen and carbon dioxide,
an ash outlet and
an exhaust gas outlet in communication with the reformer; and

the catalyst reforming unit comprises:
a solid reform catalyst,
an outlet for reformed hydrocarbon,
a carbon dioxide exhaust pipe in communication with the fluidized bed combustor and
a gas inlet in communication with the reformer.

2. The system for conversion of coal according to claim 1 , wherein
a temperature of the pyrolysis unit is from 150° C. to 600° C.; and
a temperature of of the gasification unit is from 600° C. to 800° C.

3. The system for conversion of coal according to claim 1 , further comprising an oxygen separator which supplies oxygen to the fluidized bed combustor and nitrogen as an inert gas to the drying unit.

4. The system for conversion of coal according to claim 1 , wherein the fluidized bed combustor comprises limestone or dolomite as a fluidized bed material and a temperature of the fluidized bed combustor is from 800° C. to 900° C.

5. A method for conversion of low rank coal to char and hydrocarbon gas employing the system for conversion of coal of claim 1 , comprising:
crushing the low rank coal to a grain size of 0.1 μm. to 5 mm;
drying the crushed low rank coal to a maximum moisture content of 20% by mass or less under flow of an inert gas at a temperature of from 60° C. to 90 °C. in the drying unit to obtain a crushed coal;
transferring the crushed coal to the reformer;
pyrolyzing and contacting the crushed coal with an exhaust gas from the fluidized bed combustor in the reformer to obtain a combined pyrolysis and gasification gas and a reformed coal comprising char and ash;
transferring the reformed coal to the fluidized bed combustor;
transferring the combined pyrolysis and gasification gas to the catalyst reforming unit;
combusting the char in the fluidized bed combustor with a supply of oxygen diluted with carbon dioxide at a temperature of from 800° C. to 900° C.;and
reforming the combined pyrolysis and gasification gas in the catalyst reforming unit to obtain the hydrocarbon gas.

Assignees

• Harada Tatsuro
• Matsuda Seiichiro
• Mochida Isao
• Hayashi Jun-Ichiro
• MATSUSHITA Yohsuke
• Yamamoto Tsuyoshi
• Noguchi Toshiro
• Kyushu Electric Power
• Univ Kyushu Nat Univ Corp

Inventors

• Harada Tatsuro
• Matsuda Seiichiro
• Mochida Isao
• Hayashi Jun-Ichiro
• MATSUSHITA Yohsuke
• Yamamoto Tsuyoshi
• Noguchi Toshiro

Classifications

• C10J3/721

  Multistage gasification, e.g. plural parallel or serial gasification stages · CPC title

• C10J2300/1612

  CO2-separation and sequestration, i.e. long time storage · CPC title

• C10J2300/1853

  Steam reforming, i.e. injection of steam only · CPC title

• C10J2300/1671

  with the production of electricity · CPC title

• C10F5/00

  Drying or de-watering peat (drying in general F26B) · CPC title