Hydrogenating coal

Imperial Chemical Industries in Great Britain hydrogenated coal to produce gasoline until the start of World War II. The process then operated on creosote middle oil until 1958. As of this writing none of these plants is being used to make Hquid fuels for economic reasons. The present prices of coal and hydrogen from coal have not made synthetic Hquid fuels competitive. Exceptions are those cases, as in South Africa, where there is availabiHty of cheap coal, and fuel Hquids are very important. 

Table 4 summarizes the yield of soluble pitch for the hydrogenation experiments. Hydrogenation of WVGS 13407 at 350°C increased the pilch yield from about 66 to 84 wt% Although the incremental yield between untreated and hydrogenated coal is only 18 wt%, there were significant differences m the properties of the pitches in terms of their carbonization behavior. 

To determined if the ash removal steps could be simplified, experiments were performed on hydrogenated coals. Hydrogenation experiments were conducted at 400°C in tetralin and the piteh isolated from the insoluble mmeral matter and... 

Table 16. Ash content of raw coal and their hydrogenated coal products, wt%...

Table 18. Effect of blending hydrogenated coal-dcrived pitch and coal extract on green coke yields, WVGS 13421...

A summary of the various pitches, coal source, treatment, and blend composition, and their corresponding test graphites (as referenced with a WVU number) is presented in Table 5. Here EXT refers to the NMP-solublc extract from the raw coal and IIEXT refers to the NMP extract from the hydrogenated coal... 

COIL [Concurrent oil] A process for concurrently hydrogenating coal and heavy oil feedstocks. Developed by Hydrocarbon Research. 

Dynagas A noncatalytic process for hydrogenating coal to produce gas or light oil fuels. Developed by Hydrocarbon Research. 

Over a three-year period at Rheinau, 1922-1925, Bergius and his assistants tested more than 200 different kinds of coal. Starting from a relatively small scale, they eventually hydrogenated coal in quantities as large as 1,000 kg (1 ton). A typical reaction run contained 100 kg of coal mixed with 40 kg of heavy oil, 5 kg of hydrogen gas, and 5 kg of ferric oxide to remove any sulfur present in the coal. The reaction yielded 20 kg of gas and about 128 kg of oil and solids. Distillation of the oil produced 20 kg of gasoline. (14)... 

The cost of hydrogenating coal was high, 190 marks per ton, or the equivalent of 24 cents per gallon. (24) This was more than double the price of imported gasoline, but for Germany, with only a limited supply of natural petroleum, no alternative remained during the War other than the construction of synthetic petroleum plants. In this way Germany utilized her naturally abundant supplies of bituminous and brown coal. 

The hypothesis that coals can be considered to consist of two component phases has its origins in observations of coal behaviour as well as deriving from the analysis of coals and attempts to define their structure. The results of extensive studies of untreated, preheated and hydrogenated coals, using analytical and microscopic techniques, have allowed some insight into the association between the so-called mobile phase and macromolecular network, and have provided information upon differences in their chemical properties. 

Figure 6. Relations among fluorescence intensity, chloroform-solubles yield and Gieseler placticity for hydrogenated coal (PSOC-1510 solvent-free hydrogenation, 400 C 5-60 min 1% wt sulfided Mo 7 MPa H2 cold.

Figure 7. Comparison of fluorescence spectra of two components in chloroform-solubles fraction with oil and asphaltene fractions of hydrogenated coal (PSOC-1266 solvent-free hydrogenation 400 C 60 min 5% wt sulfided Mo 7 MPa H2 cold).

A severely weathered bituminous coal from eastern Canada was treated by thermal hydrogenation under various reactor conditions. The coking properties of this coal were found to be restored under appropriate hydrogenation conditions. The semi-coke of the hydrogenated coal exhibited an anisotropic coke structure. The size of the anisotropic domains in the semi-coke was found to depend on reactor temperature and hydrogen pressure during hydrogenation. 

Based on experience obtained by hydrogenating coal during World War II, the Noguchi Institute of Japan began to study lignin liquefaction. By 1952 they had discovered a superior catalyst which converted a substantial portion of the lignin into relatively few monophenols and substantially suppressed additional hydrogenation of the phenols. This catalyst was improved some years later and, based on these two catalysts,... 

Alternative Fuel Includes methanol, denatured ethanol and other alcohols, separately or in mixtures of 85% by volume or more with gasoline or other fuels, CNG, LNG, LPG, hydrogen, coal derived liquid fuels, fuels other than alcohols derived from biological materials, electricity, neat biodiesel, or any other fuel determined to be substantially not petroleum and yielding substantial energy security benefits and substantial environmental benefits. It is defined pursuant to the EPACT (Energy Policy Act of 1992), alternative fuels. 

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