Refining and end use study of coal liquids. Quarterly report, January--March 1996

Abstract

Bechtel, with Southwest Research Institute, Amoco Oil R&D, and the M. W. Kellogg Co. as subcontractors, initiated a study on November 1, 1993, for the US Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center (PETC) to determine the most cost effective and suitable combination of existing petroleum refinery processes needed to make specification transportation fuels or blending stocks, from direct and indirect coal liquefaction product liquids. A key objective is to determine the most desirable ways of integrating coal liquefaction liquids into existing petroleum refineries to produce transportation fuels meeting current and future, e.g. year 2000, Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA) standards. An integral part of the above objectives is to test the fuels or blends produced and compare them with established ASTM fuels. The comparison will include engine tests to ascertain compliance of the fuels produced with CAAA and other applicable fuel quality and performance standards. The final part of the project includes a detailed economic evaluation of the cost of processing the coal liquids to their optimum products. The cost analyses is for the incremental processing cost; in other words, the feed is priced at zero dollars. The study reflects costs for operations using state of the art refinery technology; no capital costs for building new refineries is considered. Some modifications to the existing refinery may be required. Economy of scale dictates the minimum amount of feedstock that should be processed. The major efforts conducted during the first quarter of 1996 were in the areas of: DL2 light distillate hydrotreating; and DL2 heave distillate catalytic cracking.