Hydrogen consumption during hydrocarbonization

It is possible to produce some liquid hydrocarbons from most coals during conversion (pyrolysis and hydrogenation/ catalytic and via solvent refining)/ but the yield and hydrogen consumption required to achieve this yield can vary widely from coal to coal. The weight of data in the literature indicate that the liquid hydrocarbons are derived from the so-called reactive maceralS/ i.e. the vitrinites and exinites present (7 8 1 9). Thusf for coals of the same rank the yield of liquids during conversion would be expected to vary with the vitrinite plus exinite contents. This leads to the general question of effect of rank on the response of a vitrinite and on the yield of liquid products and/ in the context of Australian bituminous coals, where semi-fusinite is usually abundant/ of the role of this maceral in conversion. 

Fig. 4 shows the TPR profiles of the fresh and spent catalyst. Curve C shows the desorption of hydrocarbons during reduction of the spent catalyst, formed by reduction of carbonaceous deposits on the catalyst surface. The hydrogen consumption profiles of the catalyst (see Curve A and B) show the two peaks, characteristic of palladium sulfate-based catalysts, with a vanadium oxide reduction peak at approximately 400 K and a sulfate reduction peak at 600 K [11,13,16]. The peak position of the sulfate reduction peak is comparable for both catalysts. For the spent catalyst, however, an additional small hydrogen consumption is observed at 700 K, which coincides with the large peak in the FID signal,... 

Nuclear energy can effectively be used in these processes to supply hydrogen, heat and/or oxygen, otherwise fossil fuel consumption is inevitable to supply hydrogen and/or heat. Thus, using nuclear energy for these hydrocarbon production processes will reduce fossil fuel consumption and consequently C02 emission during production processes. 

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