A new route to liquid fuels from coal

Abstract

For many decades to come, the transformation of coal to high-grade liquid fuels and chemicals will be a continuing challenge. Chemically speaking, this conversion requires a gradual rearrangement of the carbon and hydrogen atoms and the addition of hydrogen, or the complete transformation of coal into building blocks containing a single carbon atom, and putting them together selectively with hydrogen to form the desired molecules. A catalyst discovered at Mobil will convert methanol, made from such building blocks, into high-octane gasoline. A simple process based on this catalyst produces the final link in a new route from coal to gasoline. A fluidized-bed version of this methanol-to-gasoline process will be tested in a 100 barrels ( ca . 16 m 3 ) per day pilot plant in Germany. A fixed-bed, commercial-size version has been selected by the New Zealand government for the conversion of methanol made from natural gas. This unit will produce 13 000 barrels ( ca . 2100 m 3 ) of gasoline per day. If the catalyst is modified, we can command it to construct basic chemical components such as light olefins, including ethylene, or BTX aromatics (benzene, toluene, xylenes) as the major product. The emergence of these new conversion processes exemplifies industrial R. and D., which spans the technology spectrum from basic and exploratory research by a few scientists to process development and commercialization involving industries and governments.