Short contact time direct coal liquefaction using a novel batch reactor. Quarterly report, 1996

The objective of this research is to optimize the design and operation of the bench scale batch reactor (SCTBR) for coal liquefaction at short contact times (0.01 to 10 minutes or longer). Additional objectives are to study the kinetics of direct coal liquefaction particularly at short reaction times, and to investigate the role of the organic oxygen components of coal and their reaction pathways during liquefaction. Many of those objectives have already been achieved and others are still in progress. This quarterly report covers further progress toward those objectives. Much of the previous quarterly report was concerned mainly in the retrograde reactions occurring during the liquefaction process. This report is largely devoted to the kinetics and mechanisms of the liquefaction process itself and the influence of the liquefaction solvents.