Texaco process

The product gases and molten slag produced in the reaction zone pass downward through a water spray chamber and a slag quench bath and the cooled gas and slag are then removed for further 

---

The Texaco process was first utilized for the production of ammonia synthesis gas from natural gas and oxygen. It was later (1957) appHed to the partial oxidation of heavy fuel oils. This appHcation has had the widest use because it has made possible the production of ammonia and methanol synthesis gases, as well as pure hydrogen, at locations where the lighter hydrocarbons have been unavailable or expensive such as in Maine, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Norway, and Japan. 

Heavy Hydrocarbon-Based Partial Oxidation Processes. Two major partial oxidation processes are commercially available, the SheU process (38) and the Texaco process (39). Operating conditions in the gas generator vary from 1200°C to 1370°C and from 3100 kPa to 8270 kPa (450—1200 psig). Generally, heavy oils are the hydrocarbon feeds however, the process can also accommodate feeds from natural gas to residual oils. 

There are two commercial solvent crystaUi2ation processes. The Emersol Process, patented in 1942 by Emery Industries, uses methanol as solvent and the Armour-Texaco Process, patented in 1948, uses acetone as solvent. The fatty acids to be separated are dissolved in the solvent and cooled, usually in a double-pipe chiller. Internal scrapers rotating at low rpm remove the crystals from the chilled surface. The slurry is then separated by means of a rotary vacuum filter. The filter cake is sprayed with cold solvent to remove free Hquid acids, and the solvents are removed by flash evaporation and steam stripping and recovered for reuse (10). 

In the Texaco process, there are two steps, an initial liquefaction step followed by treatment in an entrained bed gasifier. The liquefaction step involves heating the plastic scrap in such a way that partial depolymerisation occurs, generating a heavy oil and some gas fractions. Some of the gas is recycled as fuel for the process. 

Croezen and Sas (a.4) have published an extensive LCA for treatment of MPW with the Texaco process. There is a detailed discussion on inputs and emissions there. No specific problems with emissions control were mentioned by these authors. As for cost performance, detailed data of the cost structure have not been made public. The general figure circulating for the likely gate fee of the Texaco process is 90 to 135 per tonne for a 50 ktonne/year plant, decreasing to 50/tonne for a 200 ktonne/year plant. 

A LCA on treatment options of MPW was performed by the Dutch Centrum voor Energiebesparing en Schone Technologie (CE, Delft) in 1994. This LCA used the VEBA process as an example for feedstock recycling (a.ll). Another LCA was performed by Heyde and Kremer (a.6). Particularly the CE studies suggested that the VEBA process was a bit less advantageous than the Texaco process, mainly due to the fact that the Texaco process does not need agglomeration of MPW as pre-treatment, whereas the VEBA process apparently does. 

The 1994 CE study on disposal of municipal plastics waste (a. 11) and a follow-up study that included the Texaco process (a.3)... 

Clausen, G., Chan, T., Nongbri, G., and Kaufman, H., Texaco Processes for a Bottomless Hydrogen Refinery, paper presented at the Japan Petroleum Institute Conference on Refining Technologies, Tokyo (1992)... 

Large-scale gasification reactor technology based on EF gasification from (a) General Electric (GE Texaco process) and (b) Conoco-Phillips (E-Gas). (Adapted from Meier, D. Faix, O. Fast pyrolysis A route for energy and chemicals from wood—fluidized vs. ablative pyrolysis. In Wood and Biomass Utilization for the Carbon Uptake, Seoul National University, Seoul, 2005, pp. 55-68.)... 

The processes and equipment currently available for producing Medium-Btu Gas include the Lurgi, Koppers-Totzek, Winkler, and possbily the Texaco process. Only Koppers-Totzek is able to process the eastern caking coals, but all can work on western coal. In spite of the commercially available technology, there are no Medium-Btu plants in this country. In contrast, there are as many as a hundred operating plants overseas. 

In this application of the Texaco Process, natural gas feed is heated in the Process Heater and fed to the Hydrotreater/Desulfurizers for sulfur removal. The purified feed gas is then heated further by passing through the Process Heater again. 

To this end, both Texaco and Shell are developing their processes to handle coal slurries). The Texaco process is somewhat more flexible in that it has commercial operating experience with pressures up to 1200 psig. Thus the Texaco process requires no synthesis gas compression. The Shell process operates generally around 600 psig. Typically, today s POX plant would be around 60% thermally efficient (plus oxygen import) and can operate on cheaper feedstocks. 

The total program is planned to provide sufficient information to confidently design large scale second generation coal gasification plants (100,000 Nm3/hr of synthesis gas) using the Texaco process. 

Marion, C.P. and Slater, W.L."Manufacture of Tonnage Hydrogen by Partial Combustion - The Texaco Process" Sixth World Petroleum Congress, Frankfurt, Germany, June 1963. 

The HyTex (Hydrogen Texaco) process makes pure hydrogen from waste gases in oil refineries in a three-step process.1 The process was developed by Texaco and announced in 1991. The first commercial unit started up in Anacortes, WA in 1993. 

Another gasification alternative under consideration is the use of entrained-bed gasification with Texas lignite, such as the Shell or Texaco processes (36). Such a gasifier could be used to produce synthesis gas or be used in conjunction with a combined-cycle power generation facility. A recent EPRI report prepared by Fluor Engineers (41) presented the results of a detailed engineering and economic evaluation of such a power... 

Ubes Texaco Process Coal Gasification Plant, Ube comp, brochure 1984. 

Schematic representation of the Texaco process, the Shell process, the AKZO steam gasification process, the Linde KCA process, the NCR process and the BSL incineration process are given by TNO [15],...

Winkler process, the Koppers-Totzek process, and the Texaco process. Downstream adjustment and treatment of the raw product gases is required when these processes are used to supply feedstock or cofeedstock to a typical low-pressure methanol process operating at 220 to 270°C and 5.066 to 10.132 MPa (50 to 100 atm). A few of the operating details of these and other commercial coal gasification processes are presented here. 

Figure 49. Schematic of the TEXACO Process for the Refinement of Lubricating Oils by Extraction of Aromatics with Furfural. FRC = Furfural Recovery Column,... 

In life mixed phase, the Deutsche Texaco process uses an acidic ion exchange resin and operates between 130 and 150°C and 6 and 10.106 Pa absolute (Fig. 9.4). The liquid feed and recovery propylene is added to a first preheated fraction of recycled deionized water, of which the proportion must be very high (water/propyiene molar ratio 115 to 15), to prevent the development of polymerization side reactions. The mixture thus obtained is introduced in the supercritical state at the top of a reactor with fixed catalyst beds, between which the remaining deionized water is injected at a lower temperature, in order to absorb the beat liberated by the conversion and to control tbe temperature. 

Fig. 9,4. Isopropanol manufacture by direct hydration of propylene. Deutsche Texaco process.

Brief descriptions of commercial gasification processes can be found in the literature 4-8 gasification with steam (Exxon process), gasification with oxygen or air (Koppers-Totzek and Prenflo processes), and gasification with steam/oxygen or air mixtures (Shell, Winkler and Texaco processes). 

Fi, t rt Hydrogen mnnuruclure by pitrlial oxidation. Texaco process. 

---