Published December 2015
China has been pushing for coal gasification technology in a major way, not only by employing Western-developed gasifiers to gain operational experience but also by developing indigenous gasifiers. The development of China’s coal gasification technology has the potential to reshape the global gasifier industry.
In regions with limited access to low-cost natural gas, coal gasification is becoming an important route to the manufacture of synthesis gas. Coal gasification technologies have advanced significantly in recent years, in terms of feed handling capacity and efficiency, particularly with the development of entrained flow gasifiers. Coal-based gasification experience has been for the most part on bituminous coals. Gasification of lower-rank coals has been limited. However, the nature of the coal market and the abundance of lower-grade coals naturally results in an interest in the use of lower-grade coals such as subbituminous coal and lignite. In addition, refineries across the globe are producing a large stockpile of petroleum coke that can be gasified to produce synthesis gas. Petroleum coke, limited to proximity in refineries, is an opportunity feedstock, which can sometimes be a lower-cost fuel.
This report will present syngas processes and economics modules for the utilization of the following solid feedstocks:
- Jinchen bituminous coal
- Linfen subbituminous coal
- Dandong lignite
- Petroleum coke
The solid feedstocks are converted to synthesis gas via oxygen-blown entrained flow gasifiers. The gasification technologies covered in this report include:
- East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) opposing multiburner gasifier
- Hantian Lu (HT-L) gasifier
- Lurgi MK-IV gasifier
- Uhde High Temperature Winkler (HTW) gasifier
The report is accompanied with a Microsoft Excel workbook, iPEPSyngas™, containing syngas modules available to PEP clients. The workbook module contains a user interface (written by the author in Visual Basic for Applications 7.0). The output in each module will consist of stream flow, mass and energy balance, production costs, and capital costs for any combination of feedstock and gasification technology to produce synthesis gas of essentially any H2/CO molar ratio at a capacity and operating conditions specified. This modular approach allows for immediate implementation of the syngas economics output of any module for downstream product needs for assessing the competitiveness of new projects. The report also includes background technical information on the various feedstock, gasifier technologies, and end-use applications of synthesis gas.
