3151.     SEBASTIAN, J. J. S., EDEBURN, P. W., BONAR, F., BONIFIELD, L. W., AND SCHMIDT, L. D.   Laboratory-Scale Work on Synthesis-Gas Production.  I.  Development of Process in Laboratory Unit Operating on Entrained Powdered Coal.  Bureau of Mines Rept. of Investigations 4742, 1951, 33 pp.

        Investigations have shown that a synthesis gas of high quality can be continuously produced from powdered coals by entrainment in O₂ and steam.  The quality of the gas depends upon controllable operating variables, such as type and size of coal charged, coal feed rate, oxygen:coal and steam:coal ratios, and steam temperature.  2 different types of bituminous coal were used:  A noncoking, low-ash, low-S coal from Wyoming No. 9 seam and a strongly coking, high-ash, high-S from the Sewickley seam in West Virginia.  A synthesis gas of low CO₂ content (7%) can be made from both types of coal, pulverized either 70 or 90% steam are high enough.  The dry, ash-free coal gasified in a single pass ranged 60-70%, with yields of CO+H₂ ranging 15-22 standard cu. ft. per lb. of dry, ash-free coal charged, depending on the choice of values for the operating variables.  The combined CO+H₂ in the synthesis gas produced ranged 76-91%.  With coal feed rates up to 45 lb. per hr., corresponding to hourly fuel throughput rates up to 33 lb. per cu. ft. of generator volume, gas output rates as high as 600 standard cu. ft. CO+H₂ per cu. ft. generator space per hour have been obtained.  Indications are that even this unusually high gasification rate would be considerably exceeded when younger coals are gasified.  Synthesis-gas production rates as high as these per unit volume of generator space are important factors in reducing capital and production costs for the manufacture of gas on a commercial scale.  (See also abs. 3150.)