Bergius process: Encyclopedia - Bergius process

Bergius process

The Bergius Process is a method of getting liquid hydrocarbons from lignite by hydrogenation. It was first discovered by Frederick Bergius in 1921.

Bergius process - The Process

1. Get hydrogen from coal with watergas reaction or partial oxidation of natural gas(Syngas).
2. Grind lignite coal to the fineness of dust. Mix dust in heavy oil (from process) - 50/50 mixture is ok.
3. Add a little iron oxide or nickel catalyst. The coal dust/oil mixture is pumpable to reactor when hot.
4. First reaction occurs when the mixture is at 400°C and 300-700 bar pressure hydrogen feed in reactor. This reaction produces mainly heavy oils.
5. Light oils are produced in the gas phase with vanadium(?) catalyst hydrogenation in a second reactor at same pressure and temperature as the first reactor. This produces mainly gasoline level hydrocarbons of high octane level.

Bergius process - Future

There is some new method that can hydrogenate even anthracite coal, which uses a boron(?) catalyst and mild temperature of 280°C.

Is there any method to hydrate woodcoal (or other biomass) to generate gasoline?

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bergius process", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki