Production of JP-8 Jet Fuel from Coal and Coal/Biomass Mixtures

An indirect liquefaction process employing advanced process intensification approaches is being developed to reduce costs and accelerate commercialization of a coal to liquid (CTL) process for converting coal and coal-biomass mixtures to JP-8 jet fuel. In this Air Force and DOE/NETL sponsored cooperative agreement, Southern Research is leading a team consisting of Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI), IntraMicron, Inc., Southwest Research Institute, and Nexant, Inc., along with Chevron as selective Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalyst supplier and the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) as the host site for coal or coal/biomass gasifier slip-stream testing.  The process reduces the number of parasitic syngas cleaning steps and eliminates costly upgrading of wax produced in conventional indirect liquefaction processes, resulting in improved economics and lower lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for CTL-based jet fuel production.   These improvements directly reduce capital costs of indirect CTL processes, resulting in significantly improved economics and cost competitiveness of CTL when compared to petroleum refining.  Specific objectives of the project are 1) to improve a compact, pressurized, high temperature reformer developed by PCI to convert tar and light hydrocarbons to syngas, and deliver the required hydrogen (H₂) to carbon monoxide (CO) ratio for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis in the presence of H2S and other syngas contaminants;  and 2) to demonstrate a selective and active second generation cobalt-zeolite hybrid Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalyst from Chevron that predominantly produces liquid range C5-C20 hydrocarbons with high productivity (5X conventional FT catalysts) and jet fuel selectivity while eliminating the production and associated handling of solid C21+ wax.  This work will present results from lab-scale development of H₂S tolerant reforming catalysts as well as from a long-term test of the hybrid FT jet-selective catalyst using a nominal 5 gallons per day skid-mounted fixed-bed FT reactor system installed at NCCC.