kinetics of potassium catalyzed gasification.pdfVIP

KINETICS OF POTASSIUM CATALYZED GASIFICATION Charles J. Vadovic and James M. Eakman Coal Research Laboratory Exxon Research and Engineering Company P. 0. Box 4255 Baytown, Texas 77520 INTRODUCTION The Exxon C a t a l y t i c Coal G a s i f i c a t i o n Process(?) i s based upon a new combination o f processing steps which avoid thermodynamic c o n s t r a i n t s i n - herent i n t h e previous a r t . The use of t h e c a t a l y s t i n the r e a c t i o n step and t h e manner i n which t h e r e a c t o r i s i n t e g r a t e d i n t o t h e o v e r a l l process a r e t h e keys t o t h i s concept. The goal o f t h e work reported here i s the f o r m u l a t i o n o f a k i n e t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p f o r c a t a l y t i c g a s i f i c a t i o n which can be used i n developing a model f o r t h e f l u i d bed r e a c t o r used i n t h i s process. This model i s needed t o c o r r e l a t e p i l o t u n i t conversion data and as a design t o o l f o r commercial scale u n i t s . This paper r e p o r t s on t h e work which culminated i n t h e successful f o r m u l a t i o n o f t h e required k i n e t i c expression. A l k a l i metal g a s i f i c a t i o n c a t a l y s t s increase t h e r a t e o f steam g a s i f i c a - t i o n ( 3 4 5) promote gas phase methanation equilibrium,(?,5J and minimize aggloion o f caking