Cost of Liquid Fuels from Coal. Part IV. Products from Direct Liquefaction Processes

摘要

This report presents the results of an EAS evaluation of the three most developed direct liquefaction processes - Exxon Donor Solvent (EDS), Hydrocarbon Research's H-Coal, and German liquefaction technology; and it indicates the possible economic effect of second generation processes (mainly variations of two-stage liquefaction). In order that the results of this study should be comparable with Parts II and III, we have made, as far as possible, the same assumptions and used the same capital cost data. We have considered the EDS process in the greatest detail and have investigated the economic impacts of different process configurations, different coals and different by-product values. We have also estimated the cost of upgrading the raw EDS liquids to gasoline. The economics of a plant based on H-Coal technology have been compared with EDS economics. For German technology we have only been able to obtain limited economic data for plants using German (Westerholt) coal and Victorian brown coal and thus we are not able to fully compare German technology with the US processes. Finally, we have compared the economics of these processes with a hypothetical advanced liquefaction process having a higher thermal efficiency and lower capital cost. Direct liquefaction of coal to gasoline in Europe or North America is not competitive with gasoline (from crude oil) priced at around $42/bbl or $350/t. At a national level factors outside the scope of this study should be considered: security of supply; the possible effect of even a small, independent and expandable supply of liquid fuels on the market price of petroleum; and the effect of local production on employment levels. (ERA citation 09:030144)