JPS609077B2 - Fuel composition and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved fuel composition that allows economical fuels such as coal to be transported from remote regions to more accessible consuming markets.

The present invention is particularly directed to an improved suspension that has all the desirable properties of a true suspension, yet all of its components can be combusted with no or only low levels of pollutants in the exhaust gas. The present invention relates to a fuel composition. Since the beginning of recorded antiquity, humans have tried many ways to obtain power.

At least part of the reason for the industrial revolution in America in the first century was ``to easily obtain a source of economic power.

However, two recent new facts in the United States are causing a re-evaluation of the prior art.

The first is a major consideration to improve our environment by reducing pollution. The second is an ``energy shortage'' due to reduced production of natural gas, gasoline, and other petroleum products. Regarding these traditional power sources and their drawbacks,
In Science, Volume 180, No. 4093, published June 29, 1973, W. E. Winsch et al.
e, K. C. Hoffman, F. J. Salzsno
) on “Hydrogen: Its Future in the National Energy Economy”
An excellent study has been carried out on the subject. In this article, the authors state that the need for large-scale economical energy sources is very clear and that such energy sources can be, for example, nuclear fission, solar or geothermal sources. In this paper, the authors point out the shortcomings of some conventional power sources and highlight the value of hydrogen as a promising future fuel, as it is non-polluting. It is becoming increasingly clear that if alternative energy sources to petroleum-based fuels are not discovered, only a limited number of oil-producing regions of the globe will have disproportionate economic and political influence. .

Coal is one of the widely available alternatives to these petroleum-based fuels. Additionally, coal often contains less sulfur and pollutants than petroleum-based fuels. Crude oil was available for about $3 per 159 liters (barrel), so the coal extracted and transported over long distances was expensive and could not compete with crude oil. Crude oil is 159
Coal became increasingly competitive as a fuel source as prices rose to $5 per liter (barrel) or more. This competitive advantage would be especially strong if we could find ways to transport coal economically. For example, coal has 252,000 kcal (10
It provides heat at a cost of about 20 cents per million BTU). The United States has large coal reserves, particularly in Alaska, Wyoming, Utah, and the central region, with lignite deposits in Texas. As mentioned above, transporting coal requires enormous labor and cost. Various solutions have been tried so far to solve this transportation problem. It is known to transport aqueous coal slurries containing as much as 6% by weight of coal, for example. This is called "hydraulic transport," but it is disadvantageous because the liquid phase is water and is non-flammable. Since the aqueous phase had to be evaporated to use the resulting slurry, the sintering temperature was significantly lowered. This method has been widely industrially successful because making coal particles small enough to hold them in suspension for hydraulic transportation makes it difficult to separate the coal from the slurry at the point of consumption. No, no. As far as the inventors are aware, the closest prior art to the present invention is U.S. Pat. It concerns a stable base of coal.

These pastes are preferably stabilized by the addition of alkali-soluble inorganic or organic bases such as alkali metal hydroxides, ammonia, methylamine, pyridine, aniline, and the like. These coal pastes cannot be pumped over long distances by pipeline and have other drawbacks, making them unsuitable for modern technology for obtaining coal from remote locations. Despite this pressing need for larger quantities of fuels and the ease of obtaining economical fuels in remote areas, making these fuels available in areas with higher demand No completely satisfactory fuel composition has hitherto been proposed.

In particular, experience has shown that a fuel composition meeting the requirements of modern technology must have the following characteristics not available in the prior art:
(In the present invention, thixotropy refers to the property of softening of an object due to stress, which involves recovery.

Pseudo-th xotropic liquid
The term "xotropic liquid" refers to a liquid that exhibits thixotropic properties even if it is in the form of a slurry, and this term means that the apparent viscosity of the liquid changes with time or stress. Also, shear thinning rheology (shearthini
ng rheological property refers to the rheological property that the apparent viscosity decreases at high cutting speeds, and it is used as a shear thinning additive.
Thinnjngadditive) means that when the shearing force of a liquid such as a slurry decreases to 0, this liquid will capture particles and the apparent viscosity of this liquid will decrease.
An additive that imparts the property of thickening to a greatly reduced and pumpable viscosity when a breaking force is applied, such as in a pumping operation. )1
The fuel composition is a soliquid, or suspension, which is a slurry that behaves like a liquid but keeps the particles suspended by turbulent motion, or a slurry in which the particles are so small that they remain in suspension. and can be accurately distinguished from any colloidal suspension that undergoes Brownian motion.

The liquid fuel must be shear thinning and have a critical proportion of solids in the liquid so that it exhibits thixotropic rheology. If the proportion of solids is too low, the fuel composition will become a slurry; if the proportion of solids is too high, it will become a paste-like or wet mass with stable shear resistance. 2 The shear-thinning properties of fuel compositions to extend their shelf life when stored in quiescent conditions.
The slurry must maintain its properties and maintain a relatively homogeneous suspension of the slurry without requiring strong disturbance and must be readily brought to an essentially homogeneous state by only mild stirring. .

3. The fuel composition must not require gel-forming or colloid-forming agents to keep the particles stably suspended in the suspension. chemical additives and other purpose additives.

4. In order to adjust and achieve the desired shear'thinning, thixotropic properties such that pumping can be carried out at low apparent viscosity without sedimentation of solid fuel particles, low sedimentation below a certain critical maximum value is required. The fuel composition must have critical particle size, shape, surface features, etc. in order to have the desired velocity.

5. The thixotropic properties of the fuel composition must be enhanced by mechanical processing or strengthening brought about by processing the solid particles of the fuel in the presence of a liquid.

6. Fuel compositions provide mechanical stabilization of suspensions through particle size, shape, and properties, allowing lower amounts of more expensive liquid fuels to be used in higher amounts of less expensive solids, while also being easier to handle. It must be kept in a liquid state with a low effective viscosity. 7. The fuel composition can be effectively stored in a low-pressure sealed tank and does not require large amounts of water in the coal-water slurry pipeline, yet is suitable for making synthetic hydrocarbon liquids from coal for pipeline transportation. The fuel must be easily transportable by conventional means, including pipelines, without the need for cost.

8. Fuel compositions must be easily separated into liquid and solid components at the point of consumption for various end purposes, including the separation of solid fuels with optimum humidity.

9. The fuel composition must be capable of being stored or transported at temperatures below the freezing point of water.

10 The fuel composition may be pumped through underground pipelines at temperatures below the freezing point of water to prevent thawing of ice, tundra or icy soil, or to freeze or maintain frozen adjacent materials. There must be.

11 Liquid fuels should provide with coal a large amount of alcohols, which may be used as fuel for direct combustion or as a replacement for feed stocks or in the fuel industry, the chemical or petrochemical industry or as a substitute for gasoline. Used as raw material for cost conversion.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel composition and a method for producing the same that can achieve one or more of the above-mentioned characteristics not available in the prior art.

A particular object of the present invention is to provide a fuel composition and a method for its production, which make it possible to achieve many of the above-mentioned features not available in the prior art.

It is also a particular object of the present invention to provide a fuel composition and a method for producing the same that can achieve all of the above-mentioned desirable features not available in the prior art.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description, particularly by reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention contains a critical proportion of combustible carbonaceous particles having a critical sedimentation velocity, and the carbonaceous particles contain methanol,
Consisting of a flammable pseudo-thixotropic liquid monolithic suspension or soliquid substantially uniformly dispersed in a solution of methyl fuel containing alcohol-soluble components eluted from water and other combustible carbonaceous particles To provide a fuel composition that can be easily transported and stored and has good non-polluting properties.

The combustible carbon particles are present in a proportion of 50-8% by weight. The size and shape of the carbonaceous particles are such that the sedimentation rate in water is less than 2 skins/second, and in the case of methyl fuel, they are treated, for example, in the presence of methanol.
Wet all surfaces of the particles with methanol.
The carbonaceous particles should be retained in a liquid-solid suspension during storage with only weak suspension, and should not separate during pumping through pipelines. The suspension has shear thinning rheology such that it can be pumped with an apparent viscosity lower than its resting viscosity. In certain instances, the combustible carbonaceous particles consist of suspended particulate coal that is sufficiently large to effect combustion, i.e., 8 mesh or less, and that these particles are Most of the mesh is 100 mesh or less (within 150 microns in the transverse direction).

The dimensions of this mesh are according to Tyer's standard sieve, with "less than" indicating that these particles will pass through that particular mesh.

In order to achieve the appropriate surface area to volume ratio, the suspension should contain a specific amount of these coal particles of a specific size. If the surface area is too large, a significantly higher proportion of expensive liquid methyl fuel will be required relative to the relatively inexpensive coal or solid fuel. Since the price of methyl fuel is approximately 3-1M tones higher than that of solid coal, it is undesirable for this ratio to be high. Especially for particles smaller than 10 microns (0.01 skin), the ratio of surface area to volume is 100.
:1, so there should be no more than 1% of particles smaller than 10 microns. As used herein, the term "combustible carbonaceous particles" refers to a shear thinning liquid that forms particles with the above-mentioned low settling velocity and has a high proportion of inexpensive solids essential to the present invention as mentioned above. means any combustible carbon-containing material that forms a solid suspension.

These materials are carbon-bearing tribute rocks, carbon black, pitch, spoil banks containing tailings obtained from coal washing, etc., and of particular importance are coal. Since coal is the most important substance for resolving the energy crisis in certain industrial sectors of our country, the present invention will be explained in detail below using coal as an example. The coal used in the present invention may be any commercially available coal of relatively high purity and carbon content ranging from anthracite to bituminous coal and, less preferably, European coal, lignite, and the like.

For coal mining and manufacturing, Interscience Publishers of New York
“Kirk-Coinmer, EnCyCI.

pedia. f Chemical Techno
(1969) Vol. 5, pp. 606-676, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Coal is mined from a coal bed by a strip method or an underground method, depending on the type of ore deposit. These methods have been conventionally used, and are similar to the above-mentioned “Kir
k-○thmer, Encyclopedia'' No. 6
It is described on page 60. Regarding the preparation of coal, please refer to this “Kirk-○thmar Encyclopedia”
'Described on page 661. One advantage of this method is that
This makes it possible to use fine coal, which was previously thrown away because customers told it was too fine. Although coal beds are known to be extensive, the exact nature of the coal in each state's coal beds is not completely understood. When coal has large amounts of fusinite, it is extremely brittle and tends to concentrate in a fine size range during its preparation.
When carrying out the present invention, fine particles are directly added to the slurry.
Advantageously, it reduces the amount of processing required to crush the coal to a chemical plant or slurry means to form the methyl fuel and slough IJ-. Similarly, any amount of beetlinite can be easily made into particles as fine as 1 skin or less, thereby reducing yet another size reduction and grinding process required to obtain the desired particle size. can. As is known, in the production of fine particles, the amount of work is calculated using the Hargrove index (H
ar nail oveindex). Specifically, a lower Hargrove index indicates that more energy is required to produce coal powder in the grinding mill. It can be seen that many coals, such as Alaskan coal, have a relatively high Hargrove index, and therefore the power required for crushing is relatively low. Cleaning of the coal is also not a problem in this method since fine particles can be used in this method to obtain advantageous thixotropy properties associated with Brownian motion of the particles in the final suspension. It is not.

Where coal must be cleaned, such as in a coal gasification plant described below, any conventional method may be used. For example, cleaning tables are now used for these fine particles. These cleaning methods are described in the above-mentioned “Kirk-○thmer, Encyclopedi.”
It is described on page 662 of .

Coal can be dry cleaned to eliminate the drying step, but can become lumpy due to the introduction of air during the dry cleaning operation through the vibrating porous table. Foam flotation is preferred in any cleaning operation, and particularly when it is desired to retain fine particles. If it is desired to reduce the moisture contained in the cleaned coal, dehydration may be performed. As will be explained in more detail later, the moisture content in the coal can be optimized for the final purpose. For example, it has been found that a temperature content of 6 to 8% by weight is optimal for combustion. Since methanol tends to absorb or dissolve water, some amount of water is usually acceptable and even advantageous. In fact, methanol dissolves or absorbs water and other alcohol-soluble impurities and can even directly reduce the size of lower grade coals, such as lignite. In other words, moisture seems to be necessary for fine particles to solidify into larger lumps of coal, and when impurities dissolve in methanol, lower-grade coal naturally collapses into smaller particles. The dewatering operation is thus carried out simply by vibrating screens or centrifugation, thereby eliminating the need for thermal drying.
However, when sending coal to a coal gasification plant used for methyl fuel production, etc., thermal drying may be performed. As used herein, the term "methyl fuel" refers to methanol ranging from nearly pure methanol to crude alcohol mixtures obtained by coal gasification and subsequent "methanol" synthesis or lower alcohol synthesis. means.

That is, the methyl fuel may consist of methanol or a mixture of lower alcohols having 1 to 4 carbon atoms. This methyl fuel may be produced very close to the coal mining site or may be transported to the area where the liquid-solid suspension of the present invention is produced. Regarding the gasification of coal, the above-mentioned “Kirk-○thm”
er, Encyclopedia'', and there are many other publications.

These contents are cited for reference. There have been a number of recent reports on developments to facilitate coal gasification, including coal gasification alone or also purification, such as methane synthesis.

For example, ``Oil and Gas Journal''
Even if we look only at “andGasiomnal)”,
Many such reports were published from 1972 to 1973. In other words, on July 24, 1972, there was a report that halved the cost of synthetic natural gas (SNG), and 19
The one dated October 16, 1972 relates to the continuous process gasification process, and the Journal dated January 22, 1973, No. 90-
Page 92 contains a flow diagram and a cross-sectional view of the gasification vessel.
A paper entitled "Manufacturing G" is written. In these reported methods, water vapor and/or
Carbon monoxide and hydrogen are produced using industrial oxygen according to the following formula 1. 80M (steam) 1020* (coal) →
Father ○ 10 days 2 A part of the gas undergoes a shift reaction with water vapor,
According to the following formula, hydrogen for hydrogen enrichment is produced.

CO+HOH (water vapor)→C02 Toka 2 (0) Eliminate CO2 from this gaseous product, leaving behind hydrogen. This hydrogen is mixed with the gaseous product of Equation 1 and sent to the methanol synthesis plant for methanol synthesis at the desired date 2: CO
Produce synthesis gas with a ratio of In a methanol synthesis plant, methanol synthesis is performed by combining components such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Regarding this methanol synthesis, please refer to the above “Kirk-hada h”.
mer, Encyclopedia” Volume 13, 370~
It is described on page 398, and its contents are cited here for reference. In coal gasification plants,
Synthesis gas, usually obtained by gasifying coal, initially produces carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Care must be taken to adjust the hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio, temperature and pressure to obtain a good methanol yield as described above. For example, in conventional methods, when hydrogen and carbon monoxide are combined at a ratio of about 2 or more, methanation proceeds thermodynamically favorably. Nevertheless, the yield obtained at one time is only 12-15% of the theoretically possible amount, with reports of up to 26% of the theoretically possible yield.
% only. Furthermore, each off-gas can be circulated to obtain good results. Newer methods, such as those developed by Imperial Chemical Industries, Inc., developed around 1966-67,
Chemcall Industries, L. , I.C.
Even better results can be obtained by the low pressure method (I).
204oo (4000F), 5624560 in the subordinate method
Compared to the k9' Hinoki (80 Misaki SI) which was required,
Methanol synthesis is now possible using improved catalysts.
21 at low temperatures of 3-14 pi 0 (200-3000F)
09210k9/ (3000 psi) or less. By increasing the temperature further, the pressure can be lowered. This new ICI low-pressure method is now being used industrially and is described in publications, the relevant parts of which are cited here by reference, so there is no need to describe it in detail. Dew. For example, JimMomson is 1
968 King February 12th issue “Oiland Gas Jau
In Vol. 66, pp. 106-9 of MAL, ``This is ICI
He published a paper titled ``This is a method for synthesizing methanol at low pressure.'' Although the ICI low pressure process presented herein is performed for steam naphtha reforming, the process can be performed on any feedstock containing appropriate proportions of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The process uses a copper catalyst in place of the usual zinc-chromium catalyst and operates at 4800 F. at a low pressure of 710 psi. According to this method, which includes an economical purification step, 99.85%
Methanol of purity is produced. When this methanol is used as a fuel, it may be of lower purity than this and is more economical. Regarding the synthesis of methanol from methane, see the above-mentioned "Kirk-hamer, Encyc.
It is also described in ``lopedja'', and its contents are also cited here for reference. All of these energy sources, such as uncirculated off-gas, can be used directly in power generation plants, coal gasification plants or methanol synthesis plants, etc., so that little energy is wasted either way. The present invention will be understood by considering first the method of making a fuel composition and then the specific examples illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Broadly speaking, the method of the present invention consists of the following steps.

First, coal particles with a suitable particle size are prepared. Specifically, these particles have a size of 8 mesh or less on a Tyler standard sieve, and most of them have a size of 100 mesh or less. In any case, the settling velocity of these coal particles in water must be less than 2 g/sec. These coal particles are treated in the presence of methyl fuel containing methanol to dissolve water and other alcohol soluble impurities from the coal and to activate and wet the surface of the coal particles. This step is clearly necessary, although the reason is not yet clearly understood. Finally, a combustible pseudo-thixotropic liquid-solid suspension with these treated coal particles is produced.

These particles have alcohol-soluble impurities dissolved through the above treatment, and the suspension is particles that are substantially uniformly dispersed in the methyl fuel solution in which the alcohol-soluble impurities eluted from the coal particles are dissolved. Consisting of The suspension contains 50-8% by weight of treated particles and has shear-thinning rheology properties such that it can be pumped with an apparent viscosity lower than its resting viscosity.
Additionally, this suspension can be pumped over long distances;
It is also possible to store, but its share thinning leo. The stability and liquidity remain unchanged. These coal particles are only weakly damaged during storage and remain suspended in the suspension. Also, even after storage under static conditions, it is easily converted into a homogeneous suspension by relatively vigorous shaking or by creating some turbulence. One embodiment of the present invention can be easily understood from the attached FIG.

From a coal source, such as bin 11 in FIG. 1, coal is sent to a suitable crusher 13 where it is reduced to the desired particle size. The coal particles discharged from the crusher 13 preferably have a maximum transverse dimension of about 6.35 bars (1/4 inch). As this crusher 13, any commercially available crushing and crushing equipment can be used. These are, for example, roll crushers, hammer mills, cage mills, bow mills, etc. Since the particle size is not very critical, it is sufficient to use economical and effective equipment. If desired, this pulverized coal may be dried in a dryer 14.

This dryer 14 is a closed type dryer that can recover water. The recovered water can be used for various purposes in alcohol manufacturing plants or other remote facilities where water is scarce. The drying equipment is conventional and any other suitable heat up to the heat of coal combustion may be used if desired. As is well known, water usually occurs in the form of steam and can be easily condensed using suitable equipment. On the other hand, in other regions a finned heat exchanger equipped with a blower or the like may be required to supply cooling air from the surrounding area to the water vapor contained in the vapor.On the other hand, The crushed coal may be directly sent to the slurry forming means 15 by a conveyor or the like indicated by line 17. Of course, if desired, these may be combined to dry only a portion of the coal and leave the coal undried. It has been found that it is advantageous to adapt the moisture content of coal to the end use.For example, when attempting to separate and burn coal,
The water content is preferably 6 to 8% by weight. With this optimum moisture content, it is surprisingly possible to later separate the methyl fuel and leave the coal behind. Methyl fuel is delivered to slurry engine 15 from a suitable source, such as vessel 19.

Although a tank car or the like may be used if desired, the container 19 is usually a storage tank. Coal particles and methyl fuel are mixed in a desired ratio in a slurry engine 15, and then mixed in a storage tank 21.
into a reservoir such as

Slurrying means produce a slurry that cannot be pumped long distances and the coal particles settle during storage. This is simply a mixing device in which the alcohol and coal particles are mixed and sent to the storage tank 21 by a crusher. Preferably, the coal content in the slurry is less than 5% by weight and the slurry consists mostly of methyl fuel containing methanol. This slurry of coal and methyl fuel is stored for a desired period of time, such as one to several days or weeks. This container 21 is preferably airtight so that the alcohol can be stored indefinitely without evaporation. The shear-thinning liquid-solid suspension of the present invention (referred to as METHACOAL). ], this slurry is sent to a pulverizer 23 as shown by line 25 to reduce the coal particles to a fine size.
If the coal is to be separated, the slurry is agitated appropriately to resuspend the coal particles in the methyl fuel and send it through line 25 to the fine crusher 23. This washing is carried out in the storage tank 21 using a conventional fly washing machine. Before the coal particles settle out again, the slurry is pumped into line 27 using any suitable conventional pump designed for processing these slurries, such as a drill cylinder mud pump or cement pump used in well drilling and completion operations. Pump it.
The pulverizer 23 may be any satisfactory crushing, crushing, or pulverizing equipment that produces coal particles of the desired size. These include rotary mills, muller mills or pole mills. Including cage mills. Cage-type impact mills with counter-rotating cages are particularly preferred, since cage mills can provide very close to the optimum particle size and distribution. Of course, the size of the main particles is controlled by the mill rotation speed, feed rate and dilution amount of the feed slurry. The effluent from the mill is then sent to a suitable screen 29 as shown by line 27.

This transport can be carried out by suitable troughs, pumping in conduits, etc. If a subsequent separation is to be carried out and the coal is to be burned as powdered coal, the screen 29 is chosen in such a way that the coal particles passing through this screen to the thickener 31 have sufficient fineness for good combustion. 8
Screen 29 is generally approximately 16 to 28 mesh in size, although mesh screens may also be used.

This screening also acts as a means of constantly monitoring the performance of the mill, as particles that are too large for this screen are returned to the mill, as shown by line 33. Almost all of the liquid methyl fuel passes through this screen and reaches the thickener 31, so that oversized particles can be returned using a suitable conveyor or the like. These oversized particles can be sent to a reservoir, line 25 or directly to a mill 28 if desired. As mentioned above, the material and liquid passing through this screen are thickened by thickener 31.
The fuel is then flowed or pumped to the fuel tank where excess methyl fuel is removed as a thickener overflow.

This overflow is returned to the reservoir as shown by line 35. If desired, this overflow can be returned to the inlet of the slurry means 15, as indicated by dotted line 37. Is the thickener 31 a ball-type centrifuge without holes or a multi-hole ball type centrifuge?
Alternatively, other separation devices may be used to separate the slurry into overflow and underflow. This overflow is essentially supernatant liquid. Underflow is the liquid mass suspension of the present invention. Such thickener devices are commercially available and need not be described here. A satisfactory type of multi-hole centrifuge is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,312, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Underflow from thickener 31 is sent to a reservoir, such as storage tank 39.

A combination of weak rope or shaking, shaking and Brownian motion causes the solid particles in a liquid-solid suspension to be substantially uniformly dispersed in the suspension, with underflow or shear thinning thixotropic properties. Preferably, it remains dispersed. The amount of coal particles of the above-mentioned size in the suspension is 50 to 8% by weight, and shear thinning
It is preferred to have rheological properties and other desirable thixotropic properties as described above. storage tank 3
9 is preferably sealed and airtight to prevent evaporation of the methyl fuel and other components, so that the suspension can be stored for the desired period of time. Whether the methyl fuel is relatively pure methanol or an industrially produced alcohol containing a high percentage of methanol, this methyl fuel will leach water and other alcohol-soluble impurities from the coal. It is noteworthy that the liquid component of the suspension itself exists as a solution.

Although the mechanism by which this liquid solution acts is still not fully understood, it interacts with the coal, and this interaction, combined with the critical particle size and content, results in the desirable properties described above. This provides rheological properties. In this way the suspension is sent to its destination. For example, it may be transported to the point of consumption by a pipeline as shown, by ship, by a sand carrier, by rail tank car or tank truck, or by any other suitable means. When this thixotropic suspension, methacol, is pumped into a pipeline, if the pump line is of sufficient length, the pressure of the meth is increased along the pipeline by conventional pumping means.

For example, a centrifugal pump with a customary wear-resistant coating of silicon carbide or stellite on the impeller can be used as the pumping means, and the suspension can be conveyed to the destination, preferably by pipeline. Of course, positive drainage pumps, such as those used for pumping drilling fluids or ment slurries, can also be used if desired. The pipeline is an ordinary pipeline obtained by welding wrought iron pipes according to traditional technical standards and standards. Suitable surge tanks and pump means are connected to the pipeline by suitable valve means. The destination may be a consumption facility or a storage facility. In practice, the destination is a combination of both, including shipping to more remote locations or other parts of the world, including ship, railcar or truck loading facilities. Since hydraulic transport is the most economical method of transport, it is usually considered advantageous to use pipelines in the United States or the North American continent. At the point of end use, the liquid-solid suspension or methacol is used as a heating fuel in power plants or industries.

On the other hand, this methacol can be separated into its constituents coal and methyl fuel, and this coal can be used as a fuel for utilities or industrial processes, or as a fuel for industrial processes or synthetic gas or synthetic natural gas with low or medium calorific value. It can also be used in manufacturing. Methyl fuel has numerous uses and can be used in peaking gas turbines, combined cycle power generation, as a gasoline additive, extender, or as a 7333 calorie liter (82 cycles) according to recently patented methods. TU′ft3)
Natural gas with a calorific value of is used as a fuel supplement, in fuel cells, or as a raw material in the chemical industry. As mentioned above, one aspect of the present invention is that methyl fuel and its composition can be separated from coal at low temperatures, i.e., slightly above 66°C (1500F), and the remaining coal is optimal for combustion. It is important to have a moisture content close to the water content. Using a conventional shell-tube container, the suspension flows through the tube and then flushes the methyl fuel without mixing with hot gas in the shell.

Therefore, relatively uncontaminated methyl fuel is obtained from the flash vessel. If the coal-alcohol slurry is pre-slurried and stored, the alcohol in the methyl fuel will penetrate the coal particles and greatly reduce the grinding power.

Furthermore, pre-forming and storing the coal-alcohol-slurry allows the individual particles of coal to form more desirable shapes, such as biconvex irregular plate shapes with lower settling rates, when later crushed. There is a tendency to The particle size of the granular coal to be produced is reduced and its properties are adjusted to produce as many elongated, tabular and irregularly shaped particles as possible, including various particle shapes, to improve its shear, thinning, and xixotropic properties. There are ways to make it perfect.

A satisfactory example is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, coal from a bin 11 is crushed by a crusher 13. The resulting comminuted coal is sent to a roll compactor 45, which may be sent directly from line 17 as shown in FIG. 1, or via dryer 14. A roll compactor 45 is operated to form a flat slab of coal. In this method, large internal breaking and tearing forces are applied during compression, resulting in solid flow. The material is essentially modified since the original separation planes, interstices, individual particles and separation interfaces are completely destroyed and reoriented. This reorientation tends to produce schistose-like material with substantially parallel faces. This slab of coal is then sent from roll compactor 45 to crusher 47.
This crusher 47 crushes the slab of coal to produce particles of a different type than the initial coal. More specifically, these individual particles will be primarily elongated, flat and irregular, which is desirable for the mechanical stabilization of the liquid-mass suspension methacol. In particular, this crusher 47 may be a hammer mill or a cage percussion machine producing the desired particles. The coal particles thus obtained are then sent to slurrying means 15 where the remaining process is carried out essentially as in FIG. When the liquid-solid suspension thus obtained is gently moved, the entire substance moves)
This ensures that the suspension is homogeneous.

If desired or necessary, it may be kept completely stationary during storage and then homogenized just before removal from the reservoir. Some types of vibrations may progressively disrupt this mechanical liquid-solid soliquid or suspension to effect jig beneficiation. This jig beneficiation results in compaction during long-term storage, resulting in fluid shear and
Thinning rheology may be lost. However, the great news is that this liquid-solid suspension can be reverted to its former shear-thinning, pseudo-thixotropic suspension state simply by frame or shaking. It is now possible for this mass to return to its original fluid state simply by vibrating. These vibrations, of course, differ in intensity, frequency and direction from those during the initial compaction. If desired, liquid-solid suspensions can be completely sheared, thinned,
Further additives may be added to provide thixotropic rheological properties.

Suitable additives also include combustible conventional shear thinning additives derived from cellulose fibers. Typical examples of these include carboxymethylcellulose, carboxyethylcellulose, carboxymethylhydroxyethylcellulose, starch, and the like. Other well known shear thinning additives are those used in drilling mud and flattening techniques in petroleum field operations. Additionally, chemical additives may be used for other purposes.

For example, calcium hydroxide may be used to fix the sulfur in the slag or ash so that it is not released as a polluting gas from combustion. The present invention will now be described with reference to Examples, which were found to be satisfactory.

Example 1 Anthracite was crushed to a size of 4 mesh or less on a Tyler standard sieve, mixed with methanol, and stored for about two weeks.

The coal was then further crushed and sieved in the presence of the alcohol so that all of the coal passed through a 16 mesh Tyler standard sieve and most of it passed through a 100 mesh screen. The excess alcoholic solution of water and other alcohol-soluble impurities from the coal was decanted, leaving about 7% by weight of coal in the mixture. The mixture thus obtained was black, lump-like and appeared solid.

However, when shear was applied, its viscosity decreased and it flowed easily, flowing out like a liquid. The shear stress remains constant when reagented in a suitable geological testing device such as a rotating cylinder, and this liquid-solid suspension is furthermore thixotropic, with the shear stress decreasing with time and stress. Showed shear thinning.
It is worth noting that if this mixture was completely dried and the resulting coal particles were again simply mixed with methanol without any further action in the presence of methanol, the same atomic properties were no longer obtained.

The reason why this latter phenomenon occurs is still completely unknown. Several compositions using crude alcohols obtained by the methanol synthesis process and other processes were used.

A wide range of coal types with particle sizes essentially as described above, produced essentially in the same machine using specific methyl fuels tested with coal, all exhibit shear-thinning rheology, liquid-solid. A suspension was produced.

These suspensions appeared solid at rest, but could be easily converted to a semiliquid state that could be pumped as a liquid. It was found that similar shear thinning rheology was possible with a solids loading of 8% by weight of coal. At about 80% or more, the wet mass begins to resist flow when shear is applied. If the solids content is less than about 5% by weight, the slurry will be too dilute to exhibit shear thinning properties. This liquid-solid suspension, methacol, can itself be combusted, producing very low levels of pollutants.

On the other hand, these individual components can be separated and burned exhibiting their respective advantageous properties, which is particularly advantageous when the sulfur content of the coal is low. Example D This example shows that the components of a fuel composition can be separated;
This indicates that each of these components retains its original properties.

The anthracite of Example 1 was dried to an optimum moisture content, i.e. 7% by weight, and then mixed with methanol-based methyl fuel to obtain the suspension of the present invention.

After several weeks of turbulence, shearing, storage, etc., the methyl fuel was evaporated from the coal at about 670 (1520F). The coal had substantially its original properties (including optimum moisture content). The present invention significantly improves the widespread energy situation in the United States and other countries around the world. Economical fuel will be produced and transported to surrounding areas, and the consumption area will be able to obtain economical fuel at approximately 50% of the current price of crude oil. Moreover, the fuel thus obtained has a very low sulfur content and is therefore less polluting. Furthermore, since this liquid-solid suspension with shear thinning properties made of coal-methyl fuel emits a flame at a relatively low temperature when burned, it produces less nitrogen oxides and is less environmentally polluting than conventional fuels. Coal is very economical when transported hydraulically as a suspension based on methyl fuel as in the present invention. The methyl fuel used in this suspension burns with a clear, colorless flame and is virtually non-polluting. This methyl fuel is primarily methanol, and the octane number of methanol ranges from 92 to 106. This methyl fuel-coal suspension can be placed into secondary fuel tanks without any problems during storage and shipping, and can be transported by any conventional means. Although the method described above involves storing a slurry of alcohol and coal particles and then further crushing the particles, other methods can also be used.

For example, dry coal may be crushed to reduce its particles, but must then be fortified, or treated in the presence of alcohol. For example, it is also possible to use methyl fuel with ground coal grains during processing in a Muller mill to obtain the desired strength. From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a fuel composition having one, some, or all of the following desirable features not available in the prior art. These characteristics have been described previously. 1 The present invention provides an economical fuel composition made from combustible carbonaceous particles, in which the basic fuel components are carbon particles and a chill fuel, and the methyl fuel is a methanol fuel. Alone or a mixture of methanol, ethyl alcohol, and higher alcohols, including water and other alcohol-soluble components from the particles, such as coal.

2. The present invention provides one or more of features 1 to 7 above.

3 Soliquid fuel, i.e., a fuel in which crushed carbonaceous solids are suspended in a size small enough to burn efficiently either when burned as methacohol or when the fuel is separated and the coal is burned as crushed coal. A composition is provided.

4. The present invention also provides fuel compositions having features 8 to 11 above.

5 In particular, the present invention uses granular materials with very fine particle size and a high ratio of surface area to particle volume in order to prevent the amount of one or more alcohols in the methyl fuel necessary for coating the particle surface from becoming excessive. To provide a fuel composition in as little amount as possible.

If the surface area per unit volume of granular coal is too large, the resulting coal:alcohol ratio will be limited and the economy of this fuel will therefore be low. The unit cost of alcohol is about 3 to 10 times that of coal. Therefore, the solids content with particle size less than 10 microns should be less than 1%. Particle sizes below about 0.1 micron have some advantages when it comes to Brownian motion, but even 0.001 willow has a surface area to volume ratio of 1000:1, making it difficult to produce materials in this range. is not desirable. Although the present invention has been described in detail above, this is merely for explaining the present invention or stating examples, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and the present invention is limited only by the scope of the claims. I want you to understand.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.
11...Coal source, 13...Crushing machine, 1
4...Dryer, 15...Slurry means, 19...Methyl fuel, 21...Storage device, 23...Fine pulverization Machine, 29...Screen, 31...Thickener, 39...Storage device, 47...
··Crushing machine. *1 illustration, 2 illustrations

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A fuel composition that is easily transported and stored and has low pollution properties, the fuel composition containing combustible carbonaceous particles, the carbonaceous particles containing methanol, water, and other carbonaceous particles. consisting of a flammable pseudo-thixotropic liquid-solid suspension substantially uniformly dispersed in a solution of methyl fuel with alcohol-soluble components in the carbonaceous particles containing 50 to 50% carbonaceous particles.
present in a proportion of 80% by weight, the size and shape of the carbonaceous particles are such that the sedimentation velocity in water is less than 21/2 cm/sec, and in the presence of methanol the entire surface is wetted by methanol. The treated carbonaceous particles are maintained in suspension in a liquid-solid suspension with only mild agitation during storage, and are also retained during pumping through pipelines; A fuel composition in which the turbid body has shear thinning rheological properties and can be pumped with an apparent viscosity lower than the viscosity at rest, can be pumped over long distances, and can be stored while maintaining its fluidity. 2. The fuel composition according to claim 1, wherein the combustible carbonaceous particles have a size of 8 mesh or less, and most of these particles have a size of 100 mesh or less. 3. The fuel composition according to claim 1, wherein the liquid-solid suspension contains a shear thinning additive to make the shear thinning property more pronounced. 4. A fuel composition according to claim 1, which contains a sulfur fixing additive for fixing sulfur in slag and ash during combustion. 5. The fuel composition according to claim 1, which has been cooled to a temperature below 0°C (32°F) for pumping through underground pipelines in frozen soil. 6. The fuel composition of claim 1, wherein less than 1% of the combustible carbonaceous particles have a transverse dimension of less than 10 microns (0.01 mm). thing. 7. In the fuel composition according to claim 6, 0.1 micron (0.0001 mm) in order to cause a movement phenomenon that improves xixotropy and suspension state.
A fuel composition containing a certain amount of combustible carbonaceous particles of a size less than . 8. A method for producing a fuel composition that is easily transportable and storable and has low contamination, comprising: (a) particle size of 8 mesh or less, most of which is 100 mesh or larger, and which can be easily transported and stored in water; producing combustible carbonaceous particles with a settling velocity not greater than 21/2 cm/sec;
b) Treating the combustible carbonaceous particles in the presence of methanol-containing methyl fuel to dissolve water and other alcohol-soluble impurities, activating the combustible carbonaceous particles and wetting the particle surface. (c) the flammable carbonaceous particles subjected to the elution treatment for alcohol-soluble impurities are substantially uniformly dispersed in the methyl fuel solution containing the alcohol-soluble impurities eluted from the combustible carbonaceous particles; Flammable pseudo-thixotropic liquid
producing a solid suspension containing 50 to 80% by weight of the treated combustible carbonaceous particles and capable of being pumped over long distances with an apparent viscosity lower than that at rest; It is assumed that combustible carbonaceous particles are kept in suspension even by slight agitation during storage. A manufacturing method consisting of steps. 9. In the method according to claim 8, the combustible carbonaceous particles are coal, and steps (a) and (b)
crushes the coal, uses methyl fuel to make the crushed coal into a slurry, stores the resulting slurry, then crushes the coal in the methyl fuel, and screens the crushed coal to remove oversized coal. and carrying out step (c). 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the slurry contains less than about 50% coal by weight and comprising concentrating the excess methyl fuel by returning it to the reservoir by overflow. . 11. In the method according to claim 8, the combustible carbonaceous particles are coal, and steps (a) and (b)
) is the next step (a) crushing the coal, (b) compacting the crushed coal to reconfigure the coal particles as a slab, etc., and (c) converting the compressed coal to a desired low sedimentation rate. converting into schistose coal particles having a desired tabular state of particles with substantially parallel cleavage planes to impart velocity; (d) slurrying the crushed schistose coal particles using methyl fuel; (e) Storing the obtained slurry, (f)
(g) carrying out step (c); and (g) carrying out step (c). 12. In the method according to claim 11,
A process in which the slurry contains less than 50% by weight of coal particles and consists in concentrating the excess methyl fuel by returning it to the reservoir by overflow. 13. In the method according to claim 8, the carbonaceous particles are coal, and a suspension containing coal particles in methyl fuel is cooled to a temperature of 0° C. (32° F.) or less to be transported underground. A method consisting of preventing the thawing of frozen material, such as tundra, along this pipeline by pumping it through the pipeline.