The economical production of alcohol fuels from coal-derived synthesis gas. Quarterly technical progress report number 13, October 1--December 31, 1994

At WVU, Mo{sub 2}S{sub 3} was produced from gas-phase reactions at 1,100 C. The gas-phase reactor was modified to increase product yields and to decrease particle size. Four Chevrel phases were synthesized for catalytic evaluation. In addition, four supported alkali-modified MoS{sub 2} materials were prepared from a single-source precursor, K{sub 2}Mo{sub 3}S{sub 13}. Screening runs have been carried out on some of these materials and others prepared earlier. At UCC and P, test runs on the reactor system have commenced. Higher alcohols up to butanol were observed and identified at high temperatures. Significant progress has been made on the Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis. Frequency distributions have been determined for all of the equipment blocks for the Texaco gasifier cases. For these cases, there is a 10% chance that the actual installed capital cost could exceed the estimated installed capital cost by $40 million dollars. This work will continue with inclusion of variable costs and prediction of the uncertainties in the return on investment. Modifications to the simulated annealing optimization program have been underway in order to increase the level of certainty that the final result is near the global optimum. Alternative design cases have been examined in efforts to enhance the economics of the production of high alcohols. One such process may be the generation of electric power using combustion turbines fueled by synthesis gas