Fuel Alcohols and Electricity Cogeneration from Petroleum Coke Gasification

Published December 2010

Increasing use of heavy crude oil in refineries in recent years gives a corresponding increase in low value refinery residues, such as residual fuel oil and petroleum coke. Meanwhile, increasingly stringent environmental regulation appears to be reducing the markets for such residues, particularly pet coke.

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology offers a solution that consumes such residues and returns electrical power. Previous studies have looked at power generation in light of deregulation. This report alters that focus to cogeneration of power and chemicals, specifically fuel alcohols. Such a process would offer both power production and large scale fuel production for transportation fuels.

The focus of this report is the economics of cogeneration of electric power and mixed fuel alcohols via the gasification of fuel-grade petroleum coke. The scope includes a gasification process based on pet coke to give raw syngas, a mixed alcohol process to produce fuel alcohols, and a power generation process using the alcohol synthesis purge gas and the methanol fraction of the mixed alcohols.

The combined process resembles the IGCC process, but with a portion of the generated syngas used for alcohol synthesis and the resulting off gas from alcohol synthesis and the methanol fraction replacing direct syngas use in the combustion chamber of the gas turbine.