Bergius process

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since December 2005. (help, talk)

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
WikiProject Chemistry or the Chemistry Portal may be able to help recruit one.
If a more appropriate WikiProject or portal exists, please adjust this template accordingly.

The Bergius Process is a method of getting liquid hydrocarbons for use as synthetic fuel from lignite by hydrogenation. It was first discovered by Friedrich Bergius in 1921.

[edit] The Process

Grind lignite coal to the fineness of dust. Mix dust in heavy oil (from process) - 50/50 mixture is ok.
Add a little tin or nickel oleate catalyst. The coal dust/oil mixture is pumped into a converter.
First reaction occurs when the mixture is at 400°-450^.C and 200-250 atm pressure hydrogen feed in reactor. This reaction produces heavy oils & middleoils & gasoline.petrol is produced about 60%
middle oil is mixed with H₂ to form gasoline
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 rating.