Coal and gas pipeline feasibility study. Phase I. Concept definition and preliminary analysis

This study concerns three sequential coal processing operations: beneficiation, gasification, and transportation. In the third step, clean cool is transported pneumatically by means of the fuel gas stream produced during gasification. The three processes give a means of providing clean, reasonably priced fuels for major demand areas of the United States--for example, the East Coast. Two beneficiation techniques were considered: air table cleaning and thorough (deep) cleaning through heavy media cyclone and flotation-cell systems. Cleaning costs ranged between $1.00 and $3.00 per ton of clean coal product. Two types of coal gasification processes were considered: a versatile entrained-bed process and a fixed-stirred bed process. The entrained bed system produced fuel gas of 448 BTU/SCF. The gasification cost, apart from the feed coal cost, was estimated at $2.65/MMBTU of product gas. The fixed-stirred bed system generated a low BTU fuel gas (143 BTU/SCF) at a gasification cost of $1.50/MMBTU. A pneumatic transmission system was devised for the long distance (300 miles) transport of the beneficiated coal and the clean fuel gas. The system was analyzed for various pipeline diameters, flow rates, coal particle sizes, coal to gas mass ratios, and operating pressures; and a representative transport tariff of 2 cents/ton milemore » was developed from the results. This study indicates that clean coal can be delivered to the Philadelphia-Wilmington area from West Virginia (approximately 300 miles) at costs of $1.21 to $1.91 per MMBTU if the product gas used to transport the beneficiated coal is sold at $2.65 per MMBTU and the raw coal is available at the mine mouth for $20.00 per ton. (All costs are expressed in 1975 dollars.)« less