Hydrocarbon Research, Inc

Natural Gas Upgrading via Fischer-Tropsch. In the United States, as in other countries, scarcities from World War II revived interest in the synthesis of fuel substances. A study of the economics of Fischer synthesis led to the conclusion that the large-scale production of gasoline from natural gas offered hope for commercial utiHty. In the Hydrocol process (Hydrocarbon Research, Inc.) natural gas was treated with high purity oxygen to produce the synthesis gas which was converted in fluidized beds of kon catalysts (42). 

Several processes progressed to demonstration scales but have not been commercialized, primarily because of economic inabiHty to compete with available petroleum products. The H-Coal process developed by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. was demonstrated at Catiettsburg, Kentucky using a 545 t/d plant and DOE support. The Exxon donor solvent Hquefaction process was not commercialized either. 

After the Second World War a gas-to-liquids facility that employed an iron-based high-temperature Fischer-Tropsch (Fe-HTFT) process was constructed at Brownsville, Texas. The technology was developed by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc.,20 and the commercial facility was operated by the Carthage Hydrocol Company. The Hydrocol plant was in commercial operation during the period 1951-1957, and it was shut down mainly for economic reasons (the oil price was around US 2 per barrel at that time). 

The H-Cocd Process, based on H-Oil technology, was developed by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. (HRI). The heart of the process was a three-phase, ebullated-bed reactor in which catalyst pellets were fluidized by the upward flow of slurry and gas through the reactor. The reactor contained an internal tube for recirculating the reaction mixture to the bottom of the catalyst bed. Catalyst activity in the reactor was maintained by the withdrawal of small quantities of spent catalyst and the addition of fresh catalyst. The addition of a catalyst to the reactor is the main feature which distinguishes the H-Coal Process from the typical process. 

The mass of data and material published during the past twenty-five years on the general subject of the synthesis of hydrocarbons by the catalytic reduction of carbon monoxide with hydrogen has been reviewed adequately by others (18). The object of this paper is to describe the highlights of the development of the Fischer-Tropsch type synthesis, prior to World War II, which have contributed to the present synthesis of liquid fuels from natural gas process and to dwell at greater length on certain of the work done by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., in this field since the war. 

Fuels, Synthetic Liquid" in ECT 1st ed., Vol. 6, pp. 960-983, byj. H. Arnold andH. Pichler, Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. "Carbon Monoxide-Hydrogen Reactions" in ECT 2nd ed., Vol. 4, pp. 446-489, by H. Pichler and A. Hector, Cad-Engler und Hans-Bunte-Institut for Mineral id und Kohleforschung der Technischen Hochschule Karlsruhe "Fuels, Synthetic (Liquid)" in ECT 3rd ed., Vol. 11, pp. 447-489, by C. D. Kalfadelis and H. Shaw, Exxon Research and Engineering Co. 

From 1943 to 1948 he was consultant to Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., and from 1948 until his death a consultant to the Socony-Vacuum laboratories in connection with the synthesis of gasoline and the cracking and re-forming of petroleum by catalytic processes. 

H-Coal naphthas and distillates derived from Illinois No. 6 (Burning Star Mine) and Wyodak coals were supplied by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. The naphthas and distillates were blended in the appropriate proportions to obtain a whole syncrude derived from each coal. Properties of these syncrudes are shown in Table I. For comparison, Table I also shows properties of the SRC-II syncrude used in the study described in the previous chapter. The SRC-II syncrude was derived from a West Virginia coal (Pittsburgh Seam, Blacksville No. 2 Mine of the consolidated Coal Company). The H-Coal and SRC-II syncrudes are not directly comparable because the coals used to derive these syncrudes differ. 

The H-Coal process is a development of Hydrocarbon Research Inc. (HRI). It converts coal by catalytic hydrogenation to substitutes for petroleum ranging from a low sulfur fuel oil to an all distillate synthetic crude, the latter representing a potential source of raw material for the petrochemical industry. The process is a related application to HRI s H-Oil process which is used commercially for the desulfurization of residual oils from crude oil refining. 

Coal. Illinois No. 6 coal from the Burning Star Mines was used in this study. It was obtained from Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., Trenton, New Jersey. It was crushed to ca. 70% through 100 mesh, dried to about 2% moisture, placed in plastic bags, and blanketed under nitrogen by HRI before shipment. Proximate and ultimate analyses of this coal appear in Table I. 

H-Coal hydroclone underflow was supplied by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. It contained 9.09% ash and required filtration. Because of the relatively high viscosity of the stock, filtration was difficult, and only a limited amount of hydrotreater feed was prepared. Inspections are given in Table V. Thermal and atmospheric exposure during filtration downgraded the stock. The benzene and heptane insolubles in the product were substantially higher than those in the feed, when corrected to an ash plus unconverted coal free basis. The filtrate still contained 0.12% ash. 

H-Coal (Hydrocarbon Research, Inc.)—catalytic hydrogenation of coal in an ebulliated bed reactor (Syncrude mode), 80.3 wt % on dry Illinois 6 coal, 1 part distillate of < 10 cP and 2 parts high mp solid containing 32 wt % solids. 

The summary withdrawal of Indiana s support was all the more galling to Mr. Kellogg because it meant Indiana had selected a rival company, Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., to be its partner in development, design, and construction of a hydrocarbon synthesis facility. Mr. P. C. ( Dobie ) Keith had founded Hydrocarbon Research for the specific purpose of developing an American version of Germany s Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Keith s Hydrocol Process would use bubbling fluid bed reactors. 

Hydrocarbon Research Inc., elected partial oxidation for the Carthage Hydrocol plant at Brownsville. After initial experiments that Hydrocarbon Research conducted at Olean, New York, The Texas Company assumed responsibility for further development of partial oxidation at its Montebello, California, laboratory, under duBois ( Dubie ) Eastman. For conversion of natural gas to gasoline by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, partial oxidation s advantage over steam-methane reforming lay in its ability to operate at a pressure approximating that of the synthesis, thereby essentially eliminating need for compression of synthesis gas. 

I have vivid memories from the late 1940s of Stanley Wetterau s demonstration of blowout velocity in glass equipment at Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. s laboratory, near Trenton, New Jersey. At an air velocity a bit below blowout, he showed me a dense bed of powder, albeit carryover from the bed was evident to the eye. By adjusting the air flow just a minuscule amount upward, Wetterau caused the bed to vanish, almost in an instant. When someone presented Wetterau with a new powder, his first action was to determine blowout. He argued that this velocity was a better indicator of a powder s usefulness for a fluid-bed process than anything else he could measure. 

Hie first commerdal fadlities were built on techniques developed by Oronite (now Chevron) and Humble-Oil Subsequently, the best known processes were those of Oiemm, Phillips, which is no longer commerdalized, Amoco, Esso, known by the designatioa of Isohning, and Antar HRI Hydrocarbon Research Inc.). The latest have been proposed by Krupp, Maruzen and ARCO Atlantic Ricftfteld Ca.). 

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