Hydrogenation plant

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Hydrogenation plant in the Leunawerke , 1959
Sasol's CtL plant in Secunda (South Africa) , 2018

A hydrogenation plant , nowadays mainly called a CtL ( Coal to Liquid ) plant, is a technical plant for liquefying coal in which synthetic products are manufactured. These include fuels , lubricating oils , fuel gases , PVC plastics , paraffins , detergents, fatty acids , synthetic rubber , paints, pesticides , artificial fertilizers, but also pharmaceuticals , food colors and lactic acids .

The technology of carbohydrate hydrogenation was developed in Germany from the mid-1920s in order to be able to meet the increasing demand for fuels. Direct hydrogenation according to the Bergius-Pier process or indirect hydrogenation according to the Fischer-Tropsch process was used in the plants. Hydrogenation plants were of particular importance for the desired self-sufficiency in the Third Reich and its consequent continuation in the GDR .

In the USA, the hydrogenation processes were further developed after the Second World War under the name CtL by Kellog and in South Africa by Sasol . Today, for example, the United States Air Force uses synthetic kerosene to reduce the dependence of national defense on imported oil. Sasol is the undisputed market leader in Fischer-Tropsch technology, and its CTL systems cover a large part of South African fuel requirements.

As a result of sharply fluctuating oil prices, hydrogenation plants using various technologies have been gaining in importance worldwide since the beginning of the 21st century. New plants were built in the Ukraine , Iran , India , Kazakhstan , Malaysia , Poland and, above all, in the People's Republic of China .

Analysts assume that the global market for hydrogenation plants will grow by 4.2 percent between 2018 and 2025 and that CtL production will reach an economic volume of 5.8 billion US dollars by 2026. The development is being driven especially in APEC countries , which in 2018 accounted for a market share of more than 45 percent of the synthetic fuels produced worldwide.

technology

history

Hydrogenation plants had been in operation in Germany since 1927 to replace the missing oil wells. They were later an integral part of the war economy in World War II . According to the Bergius-Pier process, 14 hydrogenation plants worked in the German sphere of influence, and nine according to the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

Production sites for the production of synthetic fuel according to the Bergius-Pier process before 1945 (selection)
Start date plant raw material Pressure (bar) bottom phase Pressure (bar) gas phase Capacity t / a 1943/1944
1927 Leuna Works Lignite , tar 200 200 650,000
1933 Billingham Hard coal (75%), tar oil (25%) 300 300 150,000
1936 Bohlen Lignite tar 300 300 250,000
1936 Magdeburg- Rothensee Lignite tar 300 300 220,000
1936 Gelsenkirchen-Scholven Hard coal 300 300 280,000
1937 Welheim bad luck 700 700 130,000
1939 Gelsenberg Hard coal 700 300 400,000
1939 Time Lignite tar 300 300 280,000
1940 Lützkendorf mineral oil plant Tar, oil 500 500 50,000
1940 Stettin- Pölitz Coal, oil 700 300 700,000
1941 Wesseling Brown coal 700 300 250,000
1942 Brus Lignite tar 300 300 600,000
1943 Tin hammer Coal, tar 700 300 420,000

See also

literature

  • German Society for Mineral Oil Science and Coal Chemistry (Ed.): Petroleum & Coal, Natural Gas, Petrochemical. Volume 40.Hernhaussen industrial publishing house, 1987.
  • James T. Bartis, Frank Camm, David S. Ortiz: Producing Liquid Fuels from Coal. Rand Corporation, 2008.
  • Walter Krönig : The catalytic pressure hydrogenation of carbon, tars and mineral oils. Springer-Verlag, 2013.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For strategic reasons, Der Spiegel of June 23, 1949, accessed on June 16, 2019
  2. ↑ Sabine Brinkmann: The Third Reich and the synthetic fuel. Akkumulation 15, 2001, pp. 16-23. Ruhr University Bochum, accessed on June 16, 2019
  3. ^ Günter Bayerl: Brown coal refinement in the Niederlausitzer Revier. Waxmann Verlag, 2009, p. 70.
  4. ↑ Cheap gasoline from Bottrop Welt on Sunday June 1, 2008, accessed on June 17, 2019
  5. ↑ A true miracle Der Spiegel, accessed November 13, 2019
  6. ↑ The secret oil company from South Africa Handelsblatt, accessed on November 13, 2019
  7. ↑ Lexicon of Chemistry: Carbohydrate Hydrogenation Spectrum Knowledge, accessed on June 17, 2019
  8. ↑ OilRoq hydrogenation plants , accessed on June 17, 2019
  9. ↑ Worldwide Syngas Database Global Syngas Technologies Council, accessed June 17, 2019
  10. ^ Coal to Liquid (CTL) Market GlobeNewswire, accessed June 17, 2019
  11. ↑ Sabine Brinkmann: The Third Reich and the synthetic fuel. Akkumulation 15, 2001, pp. 16-23. Ruhr University Bochum, accessed on June 17, 2019
  12. ^ Heinz-Gerhard Franck, Jürgen Walter Stadelhofer: Industrial Aromatic Chemistry: Raw Materials · Processes · Products . Springer, 1987, ISBN 978-3-662-07876-1 , pp. 48 .