Abstract: In the hydrogenation of particulate coal in an ebullated bed reactor to produce hydrocarbon products, the improvement which comprises removing the coarser unreacted particulate from the recycled residiuum stream from the reactor by a liquid cyclone separation, recycling the overhead stream from said cyclone separation to the reaction zone, removing finer particulate solids from an additional liquid residiuum stream and also providing a net filtrate stream which is distilled to produce hydrocarbon vapor and liquid streams and combining said liquid stream with liquid resulting from condensation and fractionation of overhead vapor from the reactor to produce a synthetic crude oil.

Abstract: An effective and economical supply of energy from residual oil for power generation can be obtained by a sequential process of partial combustion of a crude or residual oil such as Bunker C and other high sulfur stocks, in the presence of air and steam in a fluidized bed of inert particles followed by a fluidized bed heat exchange for the production of steam and control of solids build-up, the solids-free gas being desulfurized by commerical processes and thence being available for combustion for gas turbine operation to produce transportable electrical power or other types of mechanical power such as a compressor driver. Emission levels of contaminants are within forseeable requirements and turbine maintenance problems are reduced. Coal solids can be used as a supplement to the residual oil. Alternatively, the low BTU gas can be effectively added to pipeline gas as a supplementary source of energy when dilution of high-Btu gas is permitted or used directly as a low-Btu desulfurized industrial fuel.