Development of an advanced, continuous mild gasification process for the production of co-products

The objective of this project is to develop a continuous mild gasification process to convert highly caking coals to coal liquids, char and coke for near term commercial application. Task 3, Bench-Scale Char Upgrading Study, has been underway since September 1989. In char upgrading studies, ``green`` uncured char briquettes have been prepared and calcined in 20-pound batches to evaluate the effects of char, binders, and heating conditions on final coke properties. A total of 150. formulations have been tested thus far in this work. Work on Task 4, Process Development Unit (PDU) Mild Gasification Study, has been in progress since February 1991, with the completion of a Continuous Mild Gasification Unit (CMGU) with a design rate of 1000 lb./hr. Since start-up of the CMGU, there have been 72 runs with a variety of operating conditions and coal types.