Liquid Fuel Production Process and Apparatus Employing Direct and Indirect Coal Liquefaction

Abstract

A method and apparatus for producing liquids from coal including diesel and jet fuel blends and BTX in which the coal feed is converted to liquids in a DCL reactor, the produced liquids are upgraded and separated into, naphtha and DCL jet or diesel blend stock streams, the C3/180-350° F. stream is converted in a Fischer Tropsch reactor to produce a highly paraffinic diesel or jet fuel blend stock and the DCL and Fischer Tropsch blend stocks are blended in controlled ratios to produce premium diesel or jet fuels meeting applicable specifications.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for producing liquids from feed coal, comprising the steps of:
 a) supplying feed coal to a direct coal liquefaction (DCL) reactor and operating such reactor in a catalytic process for converting at least 50% of the supplied feed coal on a moisture and ash free (MAF) basis to coal liquids;   b) upgrading coal liquids produced in step a to produce C3/180-400° F. and distillate blend stock streams;   c) converting C3/180-400° F. produced in step b to syngas;   d) converting syngas produced in step c by a Fischer Tropsch (F-T) process to predominately paraffinic liquids;   e) upgrading the liquids produced in step d to produce a distillate blend stock stream and lighter products; and   f) blending distillate blend stock streams produced in steps b and e to produce a liquid fuel or fuel blend stock.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the stream being converted in step c is a C3/180-350° F. stream. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further including the step of recycling the lighter products produced in step e to be converted into syngas and used as a feed to the F-T process. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the ratio of distillate blend stock produced by step b that is blended in step f with the distillate blend stock produced by step e is between 2 and 12 to 1 and the blended distillate fuel produced in step (f) is a diesel fuel or diesel fuel blend stock having a Cetane Number of greater than 47. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the ratio of distillate blend stock produced by step b that is blended in step f with the distillate blend stock produced by step e is between 4 and 15 to 1 and the blended distillate fuel produced in step (f) is a jet fuel or jet fuel blend stock having a freeze point less than or equal to −47° C. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the ratio of distillate blend stock produced by step b that is blended in step f with the distillate blend stock produced by step e is between 3 and 10 to 1 and the blended diesel fuel or diesel fuel blend stock produced in step f has a Cetane Number of at least 50, and a specific gravity of 0.83 to 0.85. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the ratio of distillate blend stock produced by step b that is blended in step f with the distillate blend stock produced by step e is between 3 and 7 to 1 and the blended diesel fuel or diesel fuel blend stock produced in step f has a Cetane Number of at least 51, and a cetane index of at least 46. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the ratio of distillate blend stock produced by step b with the distillate blend stock produced by step e is between 4 and 10 to 1 and the blended jet fuel or jet fuel blend stock has a specific gravity of 0.775 to 0.840. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the inertinite content of the coal is greater than 10%. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the DCL reactor contains a molybdenum microcatalyst. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the upgrading step b also produces a 160/250° F. to 160/300° F. feed stock for the production of aromatics for chemicals production. 
     
     
         12 . Apparatus for producing jet or diesel fuels or blend stocks comprising:
 a) a direct coal liquefaction (DCL) reactor for converting a coal to liquid hydrocarbons;   b) and upgrader for upgrading the liquid hydrocarbons produced by the DCL reactor;   c) a separator for separating the output of the upgrader into C3/180-350° F., Naphtha and DCL jet or diesel blend stock streams;   d) a Fischer Tropsch system for converting C3/180-400° F. product from the separator to syngas and for converting produced syngas to predominately paraffinic jet or diesel blend stock.   
     
     
         13 . The Apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the Fischer Tropsch system of element d is for converting C3/180-350° F. product from the separator to syngas and for converting produced syngas to predominately paraffinic jet or diesel blend stock.