Winkler Gasification Process Plants

The Winkler gasification process has many advantages such as low operating temperature, high reliability, and low tar in the gas product. However, due to the low operating pressure and temperature, the carbon conversion is also low (20%-30% carbon in ash). Most plants using the Winkler process have been shut down for almost entirely economic reasons. 

Comparable to IGT technology for syngas generation is the high-temperature Winkler (HTW) gasification process. A commercial HTW unit was installed in 1988 at a Finnish ammonia synthesis plant and has operated successfully using peat as a feedstock.51... 

The application of fluidized-bed reactors in gasification processes started in the 1920s. The atmospheric fluidized-bed process was patented in 1922. The first gasification plant was built by Winkler in 1925. Since then, fluidized beds have been widely used in gasification processes. 

Bailey, E. E., and T. K. Subramanium. 1979. "Winkler Coal Gasification Process and its Application in Ammonia Synthesis Plants, TVA Symposium Ammonia from Coal, Muscle Shoals, AL, U.S.A. 

Figure 6.28 Process flow diagram of high-temperature Winkler (HTW) coal gasification process (Berrenrath plant configuration in the last year of operation) (HP - high pressure,...

None of these current processes has a distinct advantage over the other two in all situations of coal gasification. However, we believe that the Winkler is best suited for the production of methanol because it yields a clean gas with a low inerts content. Other advantages include the plant s low environmental impact, the minimal coal preparation required and the simple construction of the Winkler gasifier. 

So far only the Koppers - Totzek, Texaco and Lurgi gasifiers, and probably the Winkler process in some smaller installations, have been used in ammonia plants, but the successful demonstration of the Shell process in other applications make it a potential candidate for ammonia production, too. Additional processes in different stages of technical development are the HTW and the Dow process. Information on the status and the development in the gasification of coal can be obtained from [541], [545], [548] -[554],... 

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