Coal enhancement

Uses Reactive diluent for coalings enhances wetting, imparls good flow, mar resist., and impad str., extends pot life, improves adhesion to substrate, increases flexibility for low VOC appiics. 

Acetylene traditionally has been made from coal (coke) via the calcium carbide process. However, laboratory and bench-scale experiments have demonstrated the technical feasibiUty of producing the acetylene by the direct pyrolysis of coal. Researchers in Great Britain (24,28), India (25), and Japan (27) reported appreciable yields of acetylene from the pyrolysis of coal in a hydrogen-enhanced argon plasma. In subsequent work (29), it was shown that the yields could be dramatically increased through the use of a pure hydrogen plasma. 

Petroleum and Goal. The alkanolarnines have found wide use in the petroleum industry. The ethanolamines are used as lubricants and stabilizers in drilling muds. Reaction products of the ethan olamines and fatty acids are used as emulsion stabilizers, chemical washes, and bore cleaners (168). Oil recovery has been enhanced through the use of ethan olamine petroleum sulfonates (169—174). OH—water emulsions pumped from wells have been demulsifted through the addition of triethanolarnine derivatives. Alkanolarnines have been used in recovering coal in aqueous slurries and as coal—oil mix stabilizers (175—177). 

Biological processes are also being studied to investigate abiHty to remove sulfur species in order to remove potential contributors to acid rain (see Air pollution). These species include benzothiophene-type materials, which are the most difficult to remove chemically, as weU as pyritic material. The pyrite may be treated to enhance the abiHty of flotation processes to separate the mineral from the combustible parts of the coal. Genetic engineering (qv) techniques are being appHed to develop more effective species. 

Flotation. The appfication of flotation (qv) to coal cleaning is a relatively new development iu the United States. In 1960, only 0.6% of the clean coal produced came from flotation. However, by 1983 flotation accounted for about 5% of the clean coal production (Table 2). Utilization of the flotation process is expected to grow rapidly because more fine size coal is produced as a result of beneficiation schemes that require significant size reduction of the taw coal prior to cleaning to enhance the fiberation of pyrite and ash minerals. 

Another modification is the use of microbubble column flotation (13). In this process, smaller bubbles are generated to enhance the recovery of micrometer-sized particles. A countercurrent flow of feed slurry is also used to further enhance the bubble—particle attachment. The process is capable of produciug ultraclean coals containing less than 0.8% ash. 

Research on catalytic coal Hquefaction was also carried out using an emulsified molybdenum catalyst added to the slurry medium to enhance rates of coal conversion to distiUate (26). Reaction at 460°C, 13.7 MPa (1980 psi) in the presence of the dispersed catalyst was sufficient to greatiy enhance conversion of a Pittsburgh No. 8 biturninous coal to hexane-soluble oils ... 

Albertsson (Paiiition of Cell Paiiicle.s and Macromolecules, 3d ed., Wiley, New York, 1986) has extensively used particle distribution to fractionate mixtures of biological products. In order to demonstrate the versatility of particle distribution, he has cited the example shown in Table 22-14. The feed mixture consisted of polystyrene particles, red blood cells, starch, and cellulose. Liquid-liquid particle distribution has also been studied by using mineral-matter particles (average diameter = 5.5 Im) extracted from a coal liquid as the solid in a xylene-water system [Prudich and Heniy, Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. J., 24(5), 788 (1978)]. By using surface-active agents in order to enhance the water wettability of the solid particles, recoveries of better than 95 percent of the particles to the water phase were obsei ved. All particles remained in the xylene when no surfactant was added. 

ITbe difference between the required selling price and the crude oil equivalent price represents the enhanced value of the coal liquids, due to their all-distiUate and low-beteroatom character. 

The term activation refers to the development of the adsorption properties of carbon. Raw materials such as coal and charcoal do have some adsorption capacity, but this is greatly enhanced by the activation process. There are three main forms of activated carbon. 

July. U.S President Jimmy Carter proposes 88 billion effort to enhance production of synthetic fuels from coal and shale oil reserves. 

Recent reports 54 seem to indicate that the resolution of the notoriously difficult solid-state spectra of coals may be enhanced by such techniques as double exponential multiplication and convolution difference. Differential relaxation behaviour as discussed in connection with intermolecular effects in carbohydrates and low temperature methods may further improve identification. 

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