Tetralin with bituminous coal, reaction

Autoclave Results - Solvent Activity Test. The initial microautoclave work was done with tetralin and methylnaphtha-lene, using Indiana V bituminous coal (Table I). Base line data is shown in Figure 4. All three tests, Kinetic, SRT, and Equilibrium, show an increase in coal conversion with an increase in the concentration of tetralin. The Equilibrium Test shows the highest coal conversion of approximately 86 wt% of the MAF coal (based on the solubility in the tetrahydrofuran) at the 50% tetralin concentration. The Kinetic Test shows lower coal conversion. The hydrogen transferred to the coal from the tetralin in the Equilibrium Test at the 50 wt% tetralin feed concentration is approximately 0.5 wt% of the MAF coal. In the Kinetic Test 50 wt% tetralin feed concentration results in a much smaller transfer at the short reaction time of 10 minutes. 

The main part of this research deals with the reaction of deuterium gas and Tetralin-d12 with a bituminous coal. In a separate experiment, naphthalene-d8 was used for investigating the chemistry of hydrogen transfer between coal and a nondonor solvent. In each experiment, the coal products and spent solvent were analyzed for toal deuterium content and for deuterium incorporation in each structural position. 

Hydrogen addition and exchange reactions between a bituminous coal and a donor solvent or a nondonor solvent were investigated using fully-deutrated Tetralin and naphthalene. In the experiments conducted with coal, Tetralin-di2 and deuterium at 400°C, the ratio of hydrogen exchange to addition was on the average 2.0. 

Tests on the activity of LP-produced Fe-based nanopowders for liquefaction of a sub-bituminous coal under high (688 K, 1 h of reaction) and low (658 K, 0.25 h of reaction) severity conditions have been reported.38 The catalysts tested were Fe7C3 (92 m2 g 1 (BET), particle size = 17 nm (XRD))and Fe XS (42 m2 g 1 (BET), particle size = 14 nm (XRD).38 For comparison, a commercial superfine iron oxide catalyst (SFIO, supplied by Mach I, Inc.) whose major phase has been identified in one study as y-Fe20339 (surface area = 195 m2 g 1 (BET), particle diameter = 3 nm (XRD)) and in other study as the ferrihydrite40 was also evaluated under similar conditions. The coal liquefaction experiments were carried out in 50 cm3 horizontal microautoclave reactors loaded with 3 g of sub bituminous Black Thunder coal and 5 g of tetralin used as hydrogen donor. Catalyst loadings of 0.7% and 1.4% of as-received coal... 

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