Exxon Research and Engineering Company

Edward Effron

Stephen Neil Vaughn

Gordon Frederick Stuntz

Kenneth L Trachte

Steve D Reynolds

Karl D Chomyn

Dan R Neskora

Willian Lasko

Gerald A Melin

Alexis A Giese

W Neal Mitchell

Calude C Culross

This invention is directed to a staged process for producing liquids from coal or similar carbonaceous feeds combining a pretreatment stage and a liquefaction stage. In the process, the feed is dispersed in an organic solvent and reacted with carbon monoxide at an elevated temperature and pressure. The so pretreated coal is sent to a liquefaction reactor, wherein the coal is reacted in the presence of hydrogen and catalyst to produce valuable liquid fuels or feedstocks.

Coal hydroconversion process comprising solvent enhanced pretreatment

A process for producing ultra clean distillate and naphtha products wherein a distillate boiling range stream which contains heteroatoms and aromatics to subjected to three stage processing. The first stage is conventional hydrotreating, wherein the resulting effluent is further hydrotreated, but with a noble metal zeolite catalyst which is typically used for hydrocracking. The effluent from this second stage, which is now substantially free of heteroatoms, is passed to a third stage. This third stage is a hydrocracking stage, the severity of which will determine if the ultimate product will be a distillate or a naphtha.

Three-stage process for producing ultra-clean distillate products

Coal, petroleum residuum and similar carbonaceous feed materials are subjected to hydroconversion in the presence of molecular hydrogen to produce a hydroconversion effluent which is then subjected to one or more separation steps to remove lower molecular weight liquids and produce a heavy bottoms stream containing high molecular weight liquids and unconverted carbonaceous material. The viscosity of the bottoms streams produced in the separation step or steps is prevented from increasing by treating the feed to the separation step or steps with hydrogen sulfide gas prior to or during the separation step or steps. The viscosity of the heavy bottoms stream produced in the final separation step is also controlled by treating these bottoms with hydrogen sulfide gas. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the effluent from the hydroconversion reactor is subjected to an atmospheric distillation followed by a vacuum distillation and the feeds to these distillations are contacted with hydrogen sulfide during the distillations.

Use of hydrogen sulfide to reduce the viscosity of bottoms streams

A hydrogenated liquid product is obtained from coal by treating the feed coal with hydrogen-containing gas and a hydrogen-donor solvent in a coal liquefaction reactor, separating the liquefaction reactor product into a vaporous fraction and a normally liquid hydrocarbon fraction, treating the vaporous fraction for the removal of ammonia and acid gases, fractionating the normally liquid hydrocarbon fraction to obtain a distillate fraction and a bottoms fraction boiling above about 1000.degree. F., and thereafter introducing the treated vaporous fraction and at least a portion of the distillate fraction, along with fresh hydrogen, into a catalytic solvent hydrogenation reactor for the production of solvent and additional product liquids. The hydrogenated product is separated into a recycle vapor stream and a liquid stream which is subsequently fractionated to produce naphtha, recycle solvent, additional liquid products, and a bottoms fraction which can be upgraded by hydrogenation, coking, catalytic cracking or the like. This process results in improved catalyst life and activity in the solvent hydrogenation reactor, reduces the gas input to the hydrogenation reactor, reduces the necessity for purging gas from the system, and has other advantages.

Coal liquefaction process

In a process for the liquefaction of coal in which coal liquids containing phenols and other oxygenated compounds are produced during the liquefaction step and later hydrogenated, oxygenated compounds are removed from at least part of the coal liquids in the naphtha and gas oil boiling range prior to the hydrogenation step and employed as a feed stream for the manufacture of a synthesis gas or for other purposes.

Growing community of inventors

Springfield, NJ, United States of America

Edward Effron