Steam-fluidized Low-temperature Carbonization of High Splint Bed Coal and Thermal Cracking of the Tar Vapors in a Fluidized Bed

Bruce W. Naugle

Jan 1965 · U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines

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The Bureau of Mines investigated the changes that occur in decomposition products when coal is carbonized in a fluidized bed with steam as the fluidizing medium and the vapors are subsequently cracked without condensation in a fluidized bed of high-temperature coke. The coal used was from the High Splint bed, High Splint mine, Harlan County, Ky. Since this coal is agglomerating, it was blended with char. The integrated unit used in this investigation consisted of a 3-inch-diameter fluidized coal carbonizer. a 3.5-inch-diameter cracker containing a bed of high-temperature coke fluidized by the tar vapors and steam from the carbonizer, and gas-cleaning and product-recovery systems. The carbonizer was operated at 485°C and the cracker at 600°, 700°, and 800°C. The process variables investigated were temperature, residence time, and concentration (pound of tar vapors per pound of steam to the cracker) of tar vapors in the cracker. The total tar yields decreased as the temperature of the cracker increased, and at a constant cracker temperature of 600°C the yield of paraffins, acids, aromatics, and olefins in the distillate increased directly with the tar vapor concentration in the cracker. At 700°C and 800°C only the acids and aromatics increased with increased concentration, Bases remained essentially constant regardless of the temperature and concentration. Similar results were obtained when the tar from the carbonizer was condensed prior to feeding to the cracker.