Pittsburgh Energy Research Center

United States Energy Research and Development Administration, Pittsburgh Energy Research Center, 4800 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213... 

Synthoil A coal liquifaction process in which coal, suspended in oil from the process, is hydrogenated over a cobalt/molybdenum catalyst on alumina. The process was piloted by the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center at Bruceton, PA in the 1970s using several types of coal, but it was abandoned in 1978. See also CSF, H-Coal. 

Feedstocks. The Raw Anthracene Oil was obtained from the Reilly Tar and Chemical Corporation, and the Synthoil liquid from the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center. The properties of these two liquids are given in Table I. The feedstocks were used as received from suppliers without pretreatment. As is clear... 

Synthoil, produced at the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center, was a centrifuged product. It contained 1.4% ash and over 0.1% ammonium chloride, which necessitated both filtration and hot-water washing as pretreatments. Pertinent inspections are given in Table IV. The heptane and benzene insolubles were relatively low, less than those of SRC filter feed. The stock could be processed without recourse to product recycle. 

PERC [Possibly named after the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center, now the National Energy Technology Laboratory] A process for making a heavy fuel oil by reacting a slurry of biomass in aqueous sodium carbonate solution with carbon monoxide. Under development in the United States in 1980. 

The pressure drop data in highly-pulsed- and spray-flow regimes were obtained in a 10.2-cm-i.d. clear acrylic column by the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center (PERC).22 Over 300 pressure-drop data points were obtained for both 0.635-cm x 0.635-cm and 0.32-cm x 0.32-cm pellets. Some of these data are shown in Fig. 7-5. These data were well correlated by Tallmadge s correlation,36 as shown in Fig. 7-6. Sato et al.,27 on the other hand, correlated their data with the Lockhart-Martinelli type of relation. They also graphically illustrated some pressure-drop data in all three bubble-, pulsed-, and spray- (or gas-continuous) flow regimes. 

Very recently, an interesting study of the liquid holdup in a packed column with cocurrent gas-liquid upflow was carried out by the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center.22 In this study, a series of radial conductivity measurements was performed on air-water flow through a 10.2-cm-i.d. clear acrylic column, with various packings. Three packing sizes (1.9-cm x 1.9-cm, 0.635-cm x 0.635-cm, and 0.32-cm x 0.32-cm cylinders) were examined. The conductivity detection system comprised two solid stainless-steel rods fitted with Teflon jackets, leaving only the... 

Experimental values of the total liquid holdup were obtained by simultaneous closure of the inlet and exit solenoid valves, followed by drainage over a 15-min period. In some experiments, these values were checked by actual weighing of the section of the column in between the solenoid valves. The liquid holdup data were obtained by correlating the conductivity to the liquid/gas ratio. The details of the liquid holdup measurement technique are given in the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center s quarterly reports.22... 

Pittsburgh Energy Research Center Quarterly Reports, 1975-1976 also, D. Smith. A. Reznik, and A. Pontello. Personal communication 1976. 

The authors wish to thank the FMC Corporation, Hydrocarbon Research Inc., Catalytic Inc., PAMCO, and the Pittsburgh Energy Research Center of ERDA for generously supplying samples of their coal liquid products. The work described here was sponsored by the United States Energy Research and Development Administration under Contract No. E( 49-18) 2031. 

We thank the Laramie and Pittsburgh Energy Research Centers for providing samples and for their continued collaboration in these studies. 

Wender, I. Converting Organic Wastes to Oil A Replenishable Energy Source, Report of Investigations 7560, Pittsburgh Energy Research Center Pittsburgh, PA, 1971. 

Schmidt, C.E., Sherkey, A.G., and Friedel, R.A., in Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Product Water from Coal Classification, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh Energy Research Center Technical Progress Report No. 86, 1974. 

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