West Kentucky coal

Hydrogen donors are, however, not the only important components of solvents in short contact time reactions. We have shown (4,7,16) that condensed aromatic hydrocarbons also promote coal conversion. Figure 18 shows the results of a series of conversions of West Kentucky 9,14 coal in a variety of process-derived solvents, all of which contained only small amounts of hydroaromatic hydrocarbons. The concentration of di- and polyaromatic ring structures were obtained by a liquid chromatographic technique (4c). It is interesting to note that a number of these process-derived solvents were as effective or were more effective than a synthetic solvent which contained 40% tetralin. The balance between the concentration of H-donors and condensed aromatic hydrocarbons may be an important criterion in adjusting solvent effectiveness at short times. 

Figure 18. Conversion of West Kentucky coal in various solvents...

The two coals used for the experiments were blends of West Kentucky 9 and 14 seam coals. One blend contained 0.39 weight percent more organic sulfur than the other. Both coals were significantly oxidized before they were received as shown by the appreciable sulfate sulfur contents. Coal analyses are shown in Table 1. 

TABLE I. ANALYSES OF WEST KENTUCKY COAL 9/14 BLENDS (2) (As-Received Basis)... 

SRC yields are greater than 100 percent due to the presence of solvent in the SRC. The average SRC prepared from West Kentucky 9/14 coal blends does not meet new source standards for SO2 emissions after the first step of the two-step process although all of the inorganic sulfur and an average 12 percent of the organic sulfur are removed. 

In the solvent-refined coal pilot plant at Wilsonville, Alabama, the coal slurry is heated to reaction temperature in 3-4 minutes residence time in the preheater. The slurry is then held in the dissolver for an additional 40 minutes before it is filtered to obtain specification solvent-refined coal. By bypassing the dissolver and going directly to the filters, samples of short-contact time (SCT) SRC were produced from Illinois 6 (Monterey) and West Kentucky coals. 

Liquefaction of coals in alkylated and hydrogenated pyrenes. Table 2 shows liquefaction activity of alkylated and hydrogenated pyrenes at 370°C, respectively. Although hexylpyrene showed just the same liquefaction ability as pyrene, propylation and ethylation certainly improved the liquefaction activity of pyrene with these coals of three different ranks. It is of value to note that ethylpyrene showed LY of 80% with West-Kentucky coal, which was significantly higher than with other coals. 

Hydrogenation improved quite significantly the liquefaction activity of pyrene with these coals. The LY values with Taiheiyo and West-Kentucky coals reacted to 80%, although the value with Itmann is rather low. 

West-Kentucky, and Itmann coals of three different ranks were sufficiently liquefied with hydropyrene under atmospheric pressure at 370°C regardless of their fusibility. The analyses of hydropyrene and the coal before and after the liquefaction clearly indicate the hydrogen transfer from the solvent to the coal substance. Lower rank coals look to show rather higher reactivity in such liquefaction, probably because their constituent molecule may have smaller condensed ring. 

Microstructure. The characterization of coal-derived asphaltene is quite similar to that of petroleum-derived asphaltene. Since it is anticipated that coal-derived asphaltene will have acid/neutral and base characteristics (26, 36), the average structure of both must be considered. In Table III, Structure I is amphoteric (or slightly basic), and Structure II is an acid/neutral representation. A mixture of both may be typical of the average structure of a coal-derived asphaltene. At present, we will illustrate this by an asphaltene obtained from coal liquid of the Synthoil process. (The coal is hvAb, West Kentucky, Homestead Seam the coal liquid is obtained by catalytic hydrogenation at 450° C and 4000 psig having %C, 86.7 %H, 8.38 %N, 0.93 %S, 0.09 %Q, 3.2 and %Ash, 0.7.)... 

With the beginning of the industrial revolution around 1800, oil became increasingly important for lubrication and better illumination. Expensive vegetable oils were replaced by sperm whale oil [8002-24-2], which soon became scarce and its price skyrocketed. In 1850 lubrication oil was extracted from coal and oil shale (qv) in England, and ultimately about 130 plants in Great Britain and 64 plants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky employed this process. 

One significant advantage of pulverized coal boilers is the ability to use any kind of coal, including mn-of-mine or uncleaned coals. However, with the advent of continuous mining equipment, the ash content frequently is ca 25%, and some preparation is frequently practiced. There were 931 coal preparation plants in the United States in 1988, mainly in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Peimsylvania. 

The samples of the Eastern Interior Region considered here are those shown in Figure 1 west of the dashed north-south line in Illinois. All these samples are from Illinois beds 5 and 6. This selection was made to obtain a series of samples located at increasing distances from the source area of the sediments. Because the sedimentary source for the Indiana and Kentucky coal areas are less certainly known (6), the samples from those areas are not considered here. Except for beryllium and vanadium, the minor element content of samples from those areas is comparable to samples from western Illinois. The beryllium content of all these coals was reported by Stadnichenko and others (8). The unusually high vanadium content of some of the southern coals of the Eastern Interior Region is discussed below. 

Appalachian Basin WV, PA, OH, E. KY, AL, VA, TN, MD Bituminous 98.7 Widely variable, mostly 0.5 to 5% sulfur. Large quantities of low-sulfur coal occur in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field and the Southern Field of West Virginia. 

In 2002, the top four coal-producing states were Wyoming (373 million short tons [st]), West Virginia (150 million st), Kentucky (124 million st) and Pennsylvania (68 million st) (National Mining Association, 2003). Many other states also have significant resources. Coal can be shipped long distances by train at low cost. Thus, coal can be considered as an option for primary feedstock in all regions of the United States. 

Figure 1. Atomic H/C vs. O/C ratios for asphaltenes from a variety of sources (M) petroleum crude (Alberta, Cretaceous, Carboniferous, and Devonian) ( ) Middle East crude (w) North and South American crude (+) shale oil (+) oil sands and (A) liquids from Kentucky coal at 4000 psi hydrogen and West Virginia coal at (O) 4000 psi, and (U) at 2000 psi hydrogen (21)...

Heavy oils derived from petroleum were separated by using the method developed by the USBM-API (5) Project 60 and analyzed by means of mass spectroscopy. The procedure used for separation and characterization of petroleum heavy oil was adopted to study heavy oil from coal liquids derived from Char-Oil-Energy-Development (COED) Syncrude from Utah coal (6) and western Kentucky coal (7) and Synthoil from West Virginia coal (i, 8). 

An alternative depiction of the distribution of arsenic in Appalachian coal is shown in Fig. 23, which is a series of histograms of arsenic contents in coal by state. The high arsenic tails for Appalachian basin coals of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky are not as prominent as those for the Warrior basin of Alabama. But it is evident that a significant number of arsenic analyses are greater than 100 ppm outside of Alabama. 

A large class of fireclays associated with the coal measures of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana belong to the types softening between cones 28 to 32. These are useful for bonding purposes in the manufacture of firebricks and shapes. Such clays are available in enormous quantities in conjunction of the coals of these states. All of the plastic bond clays, whether of the No. 1 grade or not, fire to a buff color which may become more and more discolored through the presence of iron pyrites or iron oxide as we descend in the scale of refractoriness. 

Minerals. Few analyses of the mineral contents are available despite the abundance of elemental analyses expressed as oxides of high temperature ashes (71,72). Sprunk and O Donnell (30) described and illustrated the microscopic occurrences of minerals in many U.S. coals, especially kaolinite, pyrite, calcite, siderite, and quartz. O Gorman and Walker (2 ) quantitatively identified 14 different mineral phases in dull durain and clarain layers in 12 samples from mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Dakota, and Wyoming. 

Hower, J.C. Rimmer, S.M. (1991) Coal rank trends in the central Appalachian coalfield Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Org. Geochem., 17, 161-173. 

Analyses of the coals tested are given in Table II. Most of the tests were conducted with the 1.6-percent-sulfur Pittsburgh seam coal. Twelve tests were carried out with the 3.1-percent-sulfur West Virginia coal. [This also is a Pittsburgh seam coal, but is referred to as "West Virginia coal" (from Marion County, West Virginia) to facilitate discussion.] Two tests were conducted with the 1.0-percent-sulfur Kentucky coal. 

Kentucky Coal (1.0 Percent Sulfur) and West Virginia Coal (3.1 Percent Sulfur). Two tests were conducted with a Kentucky coal containing 1.0 percent sulfur, and six tests were conducted with a West Virginia coal containing 3.1 percent sulfur. Bag-house temperature was maintained at 400-420°F, and the cycle times were either 15 or 30 minutes. 

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