Liquefaction continued conditions

In addition to continuous bench-scale work, CCDC carried out a rather extensive laboratory program involving the use of the microautoclave reactor. The program developed tests to compare the activities of different solvents. These tests quickly evaluated a solvent so that the performance under coal liquefaction conditions could be predicted. The tests are now used at the Wilsonville SRC Pilot Plant as a means of determining when stable operation has been achieved. 

Autoclaves provide reactors which can be used readily to acquire data from coal liquefaction studies but are less representative of likely commercial plant tyi reactors than small scale continuous bed-type reactors. Ideally comparisons between reactors are best made by carrying out experiments in various designs of reactors under similar reaction conditions, but, in order to cover the full range of designs adequately, a larger expenditure on equipment (beyond the budgets of most laboratories) would be necessary. However, steps can be taken to cover the... 

Cooking extruders have been studied for the liquefaction of starch, but the high temperature inactivation of the enzymes in the extruder demands doses 5—10 times higher than under conditions in a jet cooker (69). For example, continuous nonpressure cooking of wheat for the production of ethanol is carried out at 85°C in two continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR) connected in series plug-flow tube reactors may be included if only one CSTR is used (70). 

Solid soils are commonly encountered in hard surface cleaning and continue to become more important in home laundry conditions as wash temperatures decrease. The detergency process is complicated in the case of solid oily soils by the nature of the interfacial interactions of the surfactant solution and the solid soil. An initial soil softening or "liquefaction", due to penetration of surfactant and water molecules was proposed, based on gravimetric data (4). In our initial reports of the application of FT-IR to the study of solid soil detergency, we also found evidence of rapid surfactant penetration, which was correlated with successful detergency (5). In this chapter, we examine the detergency performance of several nonionic surfactants as a function of temperature and type of hydrocarbon "model soil". Performance characteristics are related to the interfacial phase behavior of the ternary surfactant -hydrocarbon - water system. 

The high calcium content of the younger coals has led to the formation and deposition of calcium carbonate in the liquefaction reactor in the form of wall scale and oolites which were first observed in German operations (10). These deposits form as calcium salts of humic acids in the coal decompose under liquefaction conditions. The deposits continue to grow with time and could lead to unwanted solids accumulation in the reactor itself as well as fouling of downstream equipment (11). Data shown in Figure 7 indicate the accumulation rate of the calcium carbonate in the liquefaction reactor for different coals under typical EDS conditions as well as two methods for controlling the solids build-up. 

For some reactions listed in Table 1-4A, the fixed-bed reactor is operated under cocurrent-upflow conditions. Unlike the trickle-flow condition, this type of operation is normally characterized by bubble-flow (at low liquid and gas rates) and pulsating-flow (at high gas flow rates) conditions. Normally, the bubble-flow conditions are used. In the SYNTHOIL coal-liquefaction process, both pulsating-and spray-flow conditions are used, so that the solid reactant (coal) does not plug the reactor. In bubble flow, the gas is the dispersed phase and the liquid Ls a continuous phase. In pulsating flow, pulses of gas and liquid pass through the reactor. In the spray-flow regime, the gas is a continuous phase and the liquid is a dispersed phase. 

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