SHORT CONTACT TIME DIRECT COAL LIQUEFACTION USING A NOVEL BATCH REACTOR

The overall goal of this research is to develop an understanding of the Direct Coal Liquefaction process at the molecular level. Many approaches have been used to study this process including kinetic studies, study of the liquefaction products, study of the effect of reaction variables, such as temperature, solvent type and composition, the changing nature and composition of the coal during liquefaction, and the distribution in the liquefaction products of the hydrogen consumed. While all these studies have contributed to our growing knowledge of the liquefaction process, an adequate understanding of direct liquefaction still eludes us. This is due to many reasons including: the complexity and variable nature of coal itself and the many different chemical reactions which are occurring simultaneously during direct coal liquefaction. We believe that a study of the liquefaction process at the very early stages will avoid the complexities of secondary reactions associated with free radical high temperature processes that are clearly involved in direct coal liquefaction. This prompted us to devise a reactor system which avoids long heat up and cool-down times associated with previous kinetic studies, and allows kinetic measurements even at as short as the first few seconds of the liquefaction reaction.