Conversion hydrocarbon fuels

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) operated a coal hydrogenation plant at a pressure of 20 MPa (2900 psi) and a temperature of 400—500°C to produce Hquid hydrocarbon fuel from 1935 to the outbreak of World War II. As many as 12 such plants operated in Germany during World War II to make the country less dependent on petroleum from natural sources but the process was discontinued when hostihties ceased (see Coal conversion PROCESSES,liquefaction). Currentiy the Fisher-Tropsch process is being used at the Sasol plants in South Africa to convert synthesis gas into largely ahphatic hydrocarbons at 10—20 MPa and about 400°C to supply 70% of the fuel needed for transportation. 

In shape-selective catalysis, the pore size of the zeoHte is important. For example, the ZSM-5 framework contains 10-membered rings with 0.6-nm pore size. This material is used in xylene isomerization, ethylbenzene synthesis, dewaxing of lubricatius oils and light fuel oil, ie, diesel and jet fuel, and the conversion of methanol to Hquid hydrocarbon fuels (21). 

The most commonly used fuels for combustion are hydrocarbons, materials that are compounds of only hydrogen and carbon. Occasionally, fuels such as alcohols, that contain oxygen, are burned. Wlieti hydrocarbon fuels with or without oxygen arc burned in air (combusted) to completion, the products are water, from the hydrogen part of the fuel, and carbon dioxide, from the complete conversion of the carbon part. If oxygen is present m the fuel, it shows up in the final product as part of either the water or carbon dioxide. 

In contrast to carbon monoxide, small hydrocarbon molecules and soot that result from incomplete conversion of the hydrocarbon fuels, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, are noxious emissions that result from the oxidizer—air. However, fuel components that contain nitrogen may also contribute, in a lesser way, to the formation of the oxides of nitrogen. 

The Fischer-Tropsch process is of considerable economic interest because it is the basis of conversion of carbon monoxide to synthetic hydrocarbon fuels, and extensive work has been done on optimization of catalyst systems. 

Singh, P., Ruka, R.J., and George, R.A Direct utilization of hydrocarbon fuels in high temperature solid oxide fuel cells, In Proc 24 1 intersociety energy conversion engineering conference. Pub. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, 1989, pp 1553 1563. 

Raw Fuel Conversion - Converting a hydrocarbon fuel to a hydrogen-rich gas reformate. 

It is surmised that the conversion of gasoline and diesel will result in a more complicated unit than the natural gas unit because of the more complex conversion of higher hydrocarbon fuels, greater sulfur cleaning requirements, and higher conversion temperature. J-M is beginning to... 

Even if current (per million btu) price differentials between coal and gas (or oil) do not widen much further, such direct substitution of coal for other hydrocarbon fuels is certain to become increasingly attractive - and may, indeed, prove imperative in the national interest. But in the long run equally important is that technological advances, coupled with the abundance and projected cost of Western Canadian coal, now make it possible to contemplate large-scale conversion of coal into gaseous and/or... 

Due both to its simplicity and to its practical importance, hydrogen has attracted extensive research as a fuel. Hydrogen is an important fuel in rocket propulsion, and may in the future, due to the increasing concern with CO2 emissions, replace hydrocarbon fuels in some energy conversion processes. Furthermore the hydrogen/oxygen subset is important in the oxidation of all hydrocarbons. 

Methane (CH4) is probably the most frequently studied hydrocarbon fuel, partly because it is the simplest hydrocarbon and partly because it is the main component in natural gas. Similar to what we find for other hydrocarbons, the dominating mechanism for methane oxidation depends strongly on the temperature and pressure regime. Both the high-temperature conversion important in combustion processes and the low-temperature chemistry relevant for direct conversion of methane to higher-value products have received considerable attention. These mechanisms will be discussed in some detail in the following. 

Abstract In this paper, we discuss the results of a preliminary systematic process simulation study the effect of operating parameters on the product distribution and conversion efficiency of hydrocarbon fuels in a reforming reactor. The ASPEN One HYSYS-2004 simulation software has been utilized for the simulations and calculations of the fuel-processing reactions. It is desired to produce hydrogen rich reformed gas with as low as possible carbon monoxide (CO) formation, which requires different combinations of reformer, steam to carbon and oxygen to carbon ratios. Fuel properties only slightly affect the general trends. 

Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL, Richland, WA) are developing microreactors that produce synthesis gas. These reactors can be mass-produced to yield efficient, compact and cost-effective systems, and they have been made from copper, aluminum, stainless steel, high-temperature alloys, plastics and ceramics. Conventional technologies cannot take full advantage of the intrinsically rapid surface reactions involved in the catalytic conversion of hydrocarbon fuels, but microreactors with integrated catalyst structures can61. 

SOFCs are presently at the vanguard of research into a novel group of energy conversion systems because of their high efficiency, flexibility, and environmentally friendly nature. SOFCs transform the chemical energy of H2 or a hydrocarbon fuel into electric power, the exhaust being... 

Data from the present set of experiments suggest that the conversion of fuel nitrogen to TFN in jet-stirred combustors depends upon the equivalence ratio and average residence time of gases within the combustor, the fuel type and certain physical characteristics of the combustors. However, the effects of these primary variables on fuel nitrogen conversion appear to be related to their effects on the concentrations of unburned hydrocarbons and soot in the exhaust gases. These effects and their relationships to unburned hydrocarbon and soot concentrations are discussed below. 

---