R.I. 5164 - Gasification of Lignite in a Commercial-Scale Pilot Plant: Progress Report from July 1, 1950, to December 31, 1951, and Summary Work Previous to July 1, 1950

Gasification of Lignite in a Commercial-Scale Pilot Plant: Progress Report from July 1, 1950, to December 31, 1951, and Summary Work Previous to July 1, 1950 - 1955

W. H. Oppelt^1/
W. R. Kube²^/
M. H. Chetrick³^/
T. W. Kamps³^/
E. F. Golob³^/

					Page
Section 1 362kb	Summary and conclusions				1
	Introduction				3
	Acknowledgments				3
	Section I. Experimental work: July 1, 1950, to December 31, 1951				4
		Description of commercial-scale pilot plant			4
			Retort arrangement		4
				Run 14
				Run 15
				Run 16
				Run 17
			Operating procedure		8
				Startup	8
				Test periods at constant conditions	8
			Instrumentation and methods of obtaining data		9
Section 2 319kb				Sampling methods	10
		Experimental conditions and objectives of test runs			10
			Lignites charged		10
				Analysis and size distribution	12
			Investigation of process variables		12
				Run 14	16
				Run 15 and 16	16
				Run 17	18
		Results and discussion			18
			General		18
Section 3 442kb				Composition of product gas	19
				Gasification residue	19
				Ash deposits on retort tube	22
				Material and heat balances	22
				Thermal requirements	25
			Run 14		25
				Influence of water-lignite ratio on gasification using divided annulus	25
				Influence of combustion space temperature on gasification using divided annulus	28
Section 4 448kb			Runs 15 and 16		32
				Influence of lignite feed rate on gasification using continuous annulus	32
				Influence of water-lignite ratio on gasification using continuous annulus	34
				Comparison of gasification characteristics of two lignites	37
			Run 17		39
				Comparison of gasification of eight lignites	41
				Effect of heat transfer on gasification characteristics	41
Section 5 625kb				Ash deposits on alloy tube	43
				Effect of lignite size and composition	46
				H₂-CO ratio of product gas	49
				Summary of factors affecting gasification characteristics	49
			Performance of retort tubes		51
				Deformation of 310-alloy tube	51
				Corrosion of 310-alloy tube	53
				Corrosion of mild steel inner tube	54
Section 6 808kb	Section II. Summary of work on gasification project previous to July 1, 1950				56
	Section III. Correlating methods for overall gasification data				60
		Gas composition in terms of water-gas equilibrium			60
		Material balance relationships			64
		Thermal requirements			64
Section 7 803kb	Appendix				69
Section 7 803kb	Bibliography				80

1/ Supervisor, Utilization Section, Bureau of Mines, Region III, Grand Forks, N. Dak.

3/ Formerly chemical engineer, Bureau of Mines, Region III, Grand Forks, N. Dak.