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Title: Advanced coal conversion process demonstration. Progress report, January 1, 1992--December 31, 1992

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/106460· OSTI ID:106460

This report contains a description of the technical progress made on the Advanced Coal Conversion Process (ACCP) Demonstration Project from January 1, 1992, through December 31, 1992. This project demonstrates an advanced thermal coal drying process, coupled with physical cleaning techniques, that is designed to upgrade high-moisture, low-rank coals to a high-quality, low-sulfur fuel, registered as the SynCoal{reg_sign} process. The coal is processed through three stages (two heating stages followed by an inert cooling stage) of vibrating fluidized bed reactors that remove chemically bound water, carboxyl groups, and volatile sulfur compounds. After drying, the coal is put through a deep-bed stratifier cleaning process to separate the pyrite-rich ash from the coal. The SynCoal{reg_sign} process enhances low-rank, western coals, usually with a moisture content of 25 to 55 percent, sulfur content of 0.5 to 1.5 percent, and heating value of 5,500 to 9,000 British thermal units per pound (Btu/lb), by producing a stable, upgraded, coal product with a moisture content as low as 1 percent, sulfur content as low as 0.3 percent, and heating value up to 12,000 Btu/lb. The 45-ton-per-hour unit is located adjacent to a unit train loadout facility at Western Energy Company`s Rosebud coal mine near Colstrip, Montana. The demonstration plant is sized at about one-tenth the projected throughput of a multiple processing train commercial facility. The demonstration drying and cooling equipment is currently near commercial size. Rosebud SynCoal Partnership`s ACCP Demonstration Facility entered Phase III, Demonstration Operation, in April 1992 and has been operating in an extended startup mode since that time. As with any new developing technology, a number of unforeseen obstacles have been encountered; however, Rosebud SynCoal Partnership has instituted an aggressive program to overcome these obstacles.

Research Organization:
Power Environmental Services, Inc., Butte, MT (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FC22-90PC89664
OSTI ID:
106460
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/89664-T11; ON: DE95017741
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Dec 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English