Nitrogen from coal

Boudou J. P. and Espitalie J. (1995) Molecular nitrogen from coal pyrolysis kinetic modeling. Chem. Geol. 126, 319-333. 

Adschiri et al. removed 70 wt.% of the nitrogen from coal-derived pitches by catalytically hydrotreating the pitch in a supercritical toluene-tetralin mixture at 450 °C [67]. These pitches could be used for the production of high-quality electrode carbon. The more conventional process for this reaction involves catalytic hydrotreating of the pitch in the liquid phase. The higher dif-fusivities in the SCF resulted in higher reaction rates. Moreover, catalyst coking could be reduced effectively due to the increased pressure and hence the solvent power of the SCF. 

Coal is expected to be the best domestic feedstock alternative to natural gas. Although coal-based ammonia plants have been built elsewhere, there is no such plant in the United States. Pilot-scale projects have demonstrated effective ammonia-from-coal technology (102). The cost of ammonia production can be anticipated to increase, lea ding to increases in the cost of producing nitrogen fertilizers. 

U.S. Department of Energy, Clean Coal Technology Topical Reports. (1999). Reburmng Technologies for the Control of Nitrogen Oxides Emissions from Coal-Fired Boilers. Report No. 14 (May). Washington, DC U.S. 

When SNG is made from coal, the methanation feed gas can contain various trace constituents which could affect performance. The coal can contain various amounts of sulfur, chloride, and nitrogen. These components will mostly be converted to H2S, HC1, NO, and NH3 (the NH3... 

The dyes on the group above are known as azo dyes, because they have the two nitrogen atoms together in the center (called an azo group). These dyes were originally derived from coal tar, but are now mostly made from petroleum. Azo dyes come in many colors besides those allowed in food (listed above). The other colors find use in fabrics, paper products, and plastics. 

Type 66 nylon is a polyamide first commercialized by DuPont just prior to World War II. At that time, the needed hexamethylenediamine was made from adipic acid by reaction with ammonia to adiponitrile followed by reaction with hydrogen. The adipic acid then, like now, was made from cyclohexane. The cyclohexane, however, was derived from benzene obtained from coal. The ammonia was made from nitrogen in the air by reaction with hydrogen from water obtained in the water-gas shift reaction with carbon monoxide from the coal. So, in the 1950s, nylon was honestly advertised by DuPont as being based on coal, air, and water. 

E. Jacobson in 1882 fused phthalic anhydride with quinoline bases obtained from coal tar, which also contained quinaldine (136). He thus received quinophthalone (137). Quinophthalone derivatives bearing sulfonic or carboxylic acid functions represent suitable anionic dyes. Derivatives carrying basic side chains containing quarternary nitrogen, on the other hand, provide cationic dyes. The compounds are used especially as disperse dyes [1]. 

Ammonia also may be produced as a by-product from gas liquor obtained from coal, gas, and coke ovens. Organic nitrogen in the coal converts to ammonium compounds which are separated from tar and distilled with an aqueous suspension of Ca(OH)2 to produce ammonia. 

A fourth type of innovation is one which results in an entirely new process in the engineering sense. All the process coefficients may be very different in fact, entirely different inputs may be used, or new physical or chemical principles may be employed. In contrast to production of ammonia from coal, steam reforming of natural gas was such an innovation, as was the shift from propellor to jet aircraft. Current research to produce nitrogen-fixing (ammonia-producing) bacteria that are symbiotic with corn through DNA manipulation is innovative activity of the fourth type. 

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