A TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF SOLID-FUEL GASIFICATION USING NUCLEAR HEAT. PRODUCTION OF PIPELINE GAS, LIQUID FUELS, AND CHEMICALS FROM LIGNITE AND BITUMINOUS COAL. Period Covered: May to October 1962

Results are reported of a study to determine the most economical method of utilizing nuclear heat to gasify a North Dakota lignite and a West Virginia bituminous coal so that the resulting gas is suitable as a source of synthesis gas for fuels and chemicals. Heat is transferred from a high-temperature, gas- cooled nuclear reactor to the solid-fuel gasification plant by a stream of 435- psig helium heated to a maximum temperature of 2500 un. Concent 85% F. There is no in-reactor processing involved, hence radioactivity in the processing plant is assumed to be negligible. Design of the nuclear reactor is beyond the scope of this study. It was concluded that the gasification may be carried out more economically in a fluidized bed containing immersed heat-transfer tubes than in either a fixed-bed or an entrained-bed gasifier. If nuclear heat costs no more than 95 cents per million Btu, pipeline gas can be produced at lower cost than by any steamoxygen gasification process, but still not cheaply enough to compete with natural gas at the present time. Production of gasoline is not economically attractive. (auth)