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Recent work of the US bureau of mines
Recent Developments and Notes Origin of oil in the Middle East New light has been thrown on the accumulation of oil in the great Middle East basin by studies of the sulphur isotope ratio (H. G. Thode and C. E. Rees, Endear,our, January 1970, pp 2428). Since the isotopes of an element have different chemical properties, the isotopic composition of a specimen depends on its history. In the case of sulphur for example, the ratio of 34S to 3~S varies considerably among the various materials which contain it in nature; in particular, biological activity causes important deviations of this ratio from the basic value found in meteorites. In addition, it has been established that the ratio for sulphate in sea-water has varied considerably and irregularly during geological time. Thus petroleum in reservoirs of different geological age can differ in sulphur isotope ratio. However, recent work on samples from the fields in northern Iraq has shown that the oils from different levels (from lower Cretaceous to Tertiary) in any one field have very similar sulphur isotope ratios-in contrast to the variation from field to field. This provides vital evidence to confirm the theory that these oils have a common origin, the upper accumulations at least having reached their present positions by upward migration from Jurassic or lower Cretaceous rocks, and it also shows that horizontal migration in this area has been relatively unimportant. It is now no longer necessary to postulate four different epochs of oil formation in the Middle East.
Recent work of the US Bureau of Mines United States patents have been awarded for two processes developed by Bureau
of Mines workers, which were referred to in earlier Reports of hwestigations, though there is no news of commercial exploitation of these processes yet. Patent number 3 463 310 describes a method for separating pyrite from coal, developed by Sabri Ergun and Martin Berman of the Pittsburgh Coal Research Center; the basic work was described in RI 7181. The method depends on the discovery that pyrite particles associated with coal can be selectively heated by microwave radiation so that their surface at least is converted to a magnetic form: pyrrhotite, magnetite or gamma-hematite. The coal itself is not noticeably heated by the radiation. The converted pyrite particles can then easily be separated .magnetically from the coal, which of course has to be finely ground initially to release the pyrite. The other process, granted patent number 3 501 267, is the invention of Glenn E. Johnson and co-workers, also at the Pittsburgh laboratory: it concerns the production of hydrogen cyanide by reaction of coal with ammonia. The development of this process was described in Report 6994, previously mentioned in these Notes (March 1968). The stage now reached in the Bureau's development of a process to make a gas interchangeable with natural gas by gasification of coal is outlined in Technical Progress Report 24, by A. J. Forney et al. In this process the coal is allowed to fall freely through a pretreating zone in which its caking capacity (if any) is destroyed by contact with oxygen at 400°C, into a fluidized bed where it is gasified with oxygen and steam at 950°C. The pressure in the pretreater and gasifier is 40 atm. The gas, comprising more than half the final quantity of methane, is purified and passed through a shift converter to adjust its hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio to the correct value for final methanation. This last step is to
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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND NOTES be accomplished in a reactor of novel design in which the heat of reaction is dissipated to boiling Dowtherm through a t u b e wall flame-sprayed with the Raney nickel catalyst. It is estimated that on a commercial scale the gas would sell at 54 c./1000 ft3--a price within the range for other coal-based processes. A prototype plant is planned. A report is now available also on work by the Bureau on the conversion of urban refuse to oil, previously announced in a press release (see these Notes, April 1970, p 231). Technical Progress Report 25, by H. R. Appell et al, describes how urban refuse, cellulosic wastes and sewage sludge were heated with carbon monoxide and steam under a pressure of 1500-5000 Ib/in~ (10 500-35 000-kN/m 2) at 250--400°C to yield almost 40% of heavy oil (based on the dry organic matter of the waste). Water and gas produced by the reaction brought the total conversion of the waste to about 90%. A valuable feature of the oil from the urban and cellulosic wastes was its low sulphur content, about 0-1%.
Warsaw Coal Symposium A symposium entitled 'The future role of coal in the national and world economies' was held in Warsaw in September 1969, organised by the Government of Poland for the Coal Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. A duplicated report (ST/ECE/COAL/47, 1970) of the conference has been issued, comprising the opening and closing speeches and lengthy syntheses by rapporteurs of the papers submitted under six subject headings : world energy prospects; coal production capacity and reserves; the scientific basis of the coal industry; coal processing; organisation and management in the coal industry; and trade in solid fuel. Perhaps the most valuable part of the report is the section on energy prospects--though, as pointed out in the concluding speech, even short-term
forecasts may prove unreliable. It is concluded that the world's energy consumption will most probably double between 1967 and 1980, but that Europe's consumption will increase by less than two-thirds. Coal will contribute only 20% to the 1980 energy requirements in western Europe, but 56% in eastern Europe, where its production is being expanded, in contrast to the situation in the west. This difference reflects a fundamental difference in energy policies: in the west the prevalence of arguments concerning the relative prices of the various fuels, and in the east of arguments concerning the available physical resources of fuels in each country. East-west trade in fuels is not expected to be sufficient to affect the present position of largely separate energy circuits in the two areas. The danger of the increasing dependence of the coal industry on two main classes of customer-power stations and coke ovens-~s pointed out, and in fact the papers from many countries stressed the need to develop new outlets for coal in face of the threat from nuclear power and direct reduction of iron ore. As for the lack of concern shown in the national papers at the conference about the availability of various fuels or capital for development, price changes and trade deficiencies, the report says 'Such confidence is astonishing' and queries whether the energy market has in fact become more balanced. The remaining sections of the report are useful surveys of their subject fields, although that on the scientific basis of the coal industry is a little disappointing in that it is largely a survey of research organisations (actually only Belgium, Poland and the USSR contributed papers to this section). For more detail, interested readers must be referred to the report itself. It only remains to say that the U N Economic Commission for Europe performs an indispensable service in providing exchanges of information and views between east and west as well as between individual countries;
439
Recent work of the US Bureau of Mines United States patents have been awarded for two processes developed by Bureau
of Mines workers, which were referred to in earlier Reports of hwestigations, though there is no news of commercial exploitation of these processes yet. Patent number 3 463 310 describes a method for separating pyrite from coal, developed by Sabri Ergun and Martin Berman of the Pittsburgh Coal Research Center; the basic work was described in RI 7181. The method depends on the discovery that pyrite particles associated with coal can be selectively heated by microwave radiation so that their surface at least is converted to a magnetic form: pyrrhotite, magnetite or gamma-hematite. The coal itself is not noticeably heated by the radiation. The converted pyrite particles can then easily be separated .magnetically from the coal, which of course has to be finely ground initially to release the pyrite. The other process, granted patent number 3 501 267, is the invention of Glenn E. Johnson and co-workers, also at the Pittsburgh laboratory: it concerns the production of hydrogen cyanide by reaction of coal with ammonia. The development of this process was described in Report 6994, previously mentioned in these Notes (March 1968). The stage now reached in the Bureau's development of a process to make a gas interchangeable with natural gas by gasification of coal is outlined in Technical Progress Report 24, by A. J. Forney et al. In this process the coal is allowed to fall freely through a pretreating zone in which its caking capacity (if any) is destroyed by contact with oxygen at 400°C, into a fluidized bed where it is gasified with oxygen and steam at 950°C. The pressure in the pretreater and gasifier is 40 atm. The gas, comprising more than half the final quantity of methane, is purified and passed through a shift converter to adjust its hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio to the correct value for final methanation. This last step is to
438
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND NOTES be accomplished in a reactor of novel design in which the heat of reaction is dissipated to boiling Dowtherm through a t u b e wall flame-sprayed with the Raney nickel catalyst. It is estimated that on a commercial scale the gas would sell at 54 c./1000 ft3--a price within the range for other coal-based processes. A prototype plant is planned. A report is now available also on work by the Bureau on the conversion of urban refuse to oil, previously announced in a press release (see these Notes, April 1970, p 231). Technical Progress Report 25, by H. R. Appell et al, describes how urban refuse, cellulosic wastes and sewage sludge were heated with carbon monoxide and steam under a pressure of 1500-5000 Ib/in~ (10 500-35 000-kN/m 2) at 250--400°C to yield almost 40% of heavy oil (based on the dry organic matter of the waste). Water and gas produced by the reaction brought the total conversion of the waste to about 90%. A valuable feature of the oil from the urban and cellulosic wastes was its low sulphur content, about 0-1%.
Warsaw Coal Symposium A symposium entitled 'The future role of coal in the national and world economies' was held in Warsaw in September 1969, organised by the Government of Poland for the Coal Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. A duplicated report (ST/ECE/COAL/47, 1970) of the conference has been issued, comprising the opening and closing speeches and lengthy syntheses by rapporteurs of the papers submitted under six subject headings : world energy prospects; coal production capacity and reserves; the scientific basis of the coal industry; coal processing; organisation and management in the coal industry; and trade in solid fuel. Perhaps the most valuable part of the report is the section on energy prospects--though, as pointed out in the concluding speech, even short-term
forecasts may prove unreliable. It is concluded that the world's energy consumption will most probably double between 1967 and 1980, but that Europe's consumption will increase by less than two-thirds. Coal will contribute only 20% to the 1980 energy requirements in western Europe, but 56% in eastern Europe, where its production is being expanded, in contrast to the situation in the west. This difference reflects a fundamental difference in energy policies: in the west the prevalence of arguments concerning the relative prices of the various fuels, and in the east of arguments concerning the available physical resources of fuels in each country. East-west trade in fuels is not expected to be sufficient to affect the present position of largely separate energy circuits in the two areas. The danger of the increasing dependence of the coal industry on two main classes of customer-power stations and coke ovens-~s pointed out, and in fact the papers from many countries stressed the need to develop new outlets for coal in face of the threat from nuclear power and direct reduction of iron ore. As for the lack of concern shown in the national papers at the conference about the availability of various fuels or capital for development, price changes and trade deficiencies, the report says 'Such confidence is astonishing' and queries whether the energy market has in fact become more balanced. The remaining sections of the report are useful surveys of their subject fields, although that on the scientific basis of the coal industry is a little disappointing in that it is largely a survey of research organisations (actually only Belgium, Poland and the USSR contributed papers to this section). For more detail, interested readers must be referred to the report itself. It only remains to say that the U N Economic Commission for Europe performs an indispensable service in providing exchanges of information and views between east and west as well as between individual countries;
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