TITLE: Novel Experimental Studies for Coal Liquefaction. Quarterly Progress Report, July 1-September 30, 1985.

AUTHOR: G. Holder;   Y. T. Shah;   J. W. Tierney.

INST.  AUTHOR: Pittsburgh Univ., PA.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  1985,  8p.

NTIS ORDER NO.: DE86003878/INW

ABSTRACT:

Research is being carried out under two tasks: (1) thermal behavior of slurry reactors used for indirect coal liquefaction; and (2) coal liquefaction under supercritical conditions. For task one work continued in three areas; Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; methanol synthesis via a formate; and methanol synthesis using a Cu-ZnO catalyst. Most attention was given to the synthesis of methanol using a formate intermediate. The reaction involves carbonylation of an alcohol to formate and then hydrogenation to produce methanol. This sequence has an advantage over conventional synthesis methods in that the reaction can be carried out at a lower temperature where higher conversions per pass can be obtained because of more favorable thermodynamics. By using a slurry reactor, both reactions can take place in the same vessel. The carbonylation step uses a homogeneous catalyst and the hydrogenation step uses a heterogeneous catalyst. For task two, the objective was to measure mass transfer rates for naphthalene extraction by carbon dioxide to enable the investigators to determine how mass transfer coefficients vary with pressure flow rate, and bed height. These parameters will influence the design of extraction or reaction processes which utilize supercritical fluids. The data obtained thus far cover mostly the study of the effect of flow rate on solubility of naphthalene at different pressures and temperatures. (ERA citation 11:011142)

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/PC/71257-T4

CONTRACT  NUMBER: FG22-84PC71257