Burning Star SRC

Sulfur is fairly evenly distributed throughout the GEC fractions for all three SRC s. Low-resolution MS of Fraction 4 from Burning Star SRC indicated significant concentrations of the aromatic sulfur types such as benzothiophenes, dibenzothiophenes, and naphthobenzothiophenes. The occurrence of these sulfur compounds in coal liquids has been observed before (11) and their presence in SRC is not unexpected. Sulfur in Fractions 7-12 must occur in molecules that also contain nitrogen and/or oxygen functional groups. 

Figure 3. Heteroatom concentrations in Burning Star SRC GEC fractions...

This concept was examined by thermally processing Illinois 6 Burning Star SCT-SRC in 5 minute batch autoclave runs (2). A synthetic solvent containing about 40% tetralin was used under a H2 pressure of about 10343 kPa. It was found that temperatures of at least 480°C were required to produce SRCs containing less than 1% sulfur from SCT-SRCs containing 1.3 to 2% sulfur. Pyridine-insol-... 

For Burning Star SCT-SRCs, the selectivity for desulfurization is not sufficiently high, relative to those for formation of gases and insoluble residue, to make this process practicable. No other SCT-SRCs were tested. 

H-Coal naphthas and distillates derived from Illinois No. 6 (Burning Star Mine) and Wyodak coals were supplied by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. The naphthas and distillates were blended in the appropriate proportions to obtain a whole syncrude derived from each coal. Properties of these syncrudes are shown in Table I. For comparison, Table I also shows properties of the SRC-II syncrude used in the study described in the previous chapter. The SRC-II syncrude was derived from a West Virginia coal (Pittsburgh Seam, Blacksville No. 2 Mine of the consolidated Coal Company). The H-Coal and SRC-II syncrudes are not directly comparable because the coals used to derive these syncrudes differ. 

The SRC s used in this study were obtained from the SRC process demonstration unit operated by Southern Services Inc. in Wilsonville, Alabama. Three SRC s were studied and these products were derived from the following coals Illinois No. 6 Burning Star, Illinois No. 6 Monterey, and Wyodak (Amax). The as-received SRC s were wet owing to a water quench and therefore each SRC was dried carefully before sampling and analysis. The vacuum resid was prepared by laboratory vacuum distillation of an atmospheric resid obtained from a commercial refinery source. The identification and source of the coal liquid samples used in this study along with other pertinent information are presented in Table I. 

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