Coal hydrogenation early research

The liquid-phase hydrogenation of coal has been a topic of interest since the early 1900s (for example, see Bergius, 1912, 1913, 1925), leading to one of the first commercial developments for the production of liquid fuels from coal. Of late, research efforts have been directed toward cheaper sources of hydrogen, better catalysts, less severe operating conditions, and simpleroperating procedures. There has even been some emphasis on the elimination of the carrier liquid and more facile separation of the products (Chapters 18 and 19). 

Avco An electric arc process for making acetylene from coal and hydrogen. The arc in hydrogen is rotated by a magnetic field in order to spread it out and thus make better contact with the coal passing through. Developed by V. J. Krukonis at the Avco Corporation in the early 1970s with support from the U.S. Office of Coal Research Piloted at the rate of 55 kg/hr but not yet commercialized. 

Researchers at the Environmental Institute of Princeton University suggest that coal or biomass gasification power plants could offer a small slipstream of hydrogen to early hydrogen users (T. Kreutz, private communication, 2006). 

For each coal, at the maximum in hydrogen content, or H/C atomic ratio, the aliphatic hydrogen content (determined by H NMR analysis) accounted for over 90% of the total hydrogen. The aliphatic hydrogen contents were 10.5% for the subbituminous coal,PSOC-1403, and 6.9% for the bituminous coal, PSOC-1266. The high aliphatic hydrogen content was associated with the presence of polymethylene chains. The early release of paraffinic material, as n-alkanes and as long chain substituents to aromatic structures, under conditions of mild pyrolysis has been observed in other research (13-15. ... 

The first commercial production of liquids from coal was obtained during carbonization primarily for the production of coke and gas early in the nineteenth century. Successful research on coal liquefaction by direct hydrogenation and indirect synthesis began in the early part of the twentieth century (Bergius, 1912, 1913, 1925 Graham and Skinner, 1929 Donath, 1963 Wn and Storch, 1968). This culminated in the production of approximately 100,000 bbl/day (15.9 x 10 L/day) of liquid fuels for the German war effort in the early to mid-1940s (Extance, 2011). 

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