ELECTROCHEMICAL GASIFICATION OF COAL (INVESTIGATION OF OPERATING-CONDITIONS AND VARIABLES)

Experimental results are reported for this new process where coal is consumed within an aqueous electrolyte to produce gaseous oxides of carbon at the anode and hydrogen at the cathode. Data are reported on the effect of coal particle size and concentration, activation energy and temperature effects, behaviour of the supporting electrolyte, and changes in morphology and reactivity of the coal during the process. The gas liberated at the anode is almost pure CO2 with a small percentage of CO. When the process is conducted galvanostatically, the potential gradually rises in parallel with accumulation of reaction intermediates on the coal and a corresponding decline in its reactivity. Moreover an abrupt and reproducible jump in potential is observed which suggests at least two different mechanisms for the overall process. © 1979.