TITLE: Novel Experimental Studies for Coal Liquefaction: Final Report.

AUTHOR: G. D. Holder;   J. W. Tierney.

INST.  AUTHOR: Pittsburgh Univ., PA. Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  15 Jun 89,  123p.

NTIS ORDER NO.: DE90000642INW

ABSTRACT:

Two studies related to coal liquefaction were carried out. The major effort in study was to investigate experimentally a novel reaction sequence for conversion of synthesis gas to methanol. The reaction studied in this work takes place in the liquid phase and consists of two reactions occurring in series. In the first, methanol is carbonylated to methyl formate using a homogeneous catalyst and then the formate is hydrogenated to two molecules of methanol using a heterogeneous catalyst. The reactions were studied individually and then concurrently (both reactions taking place in the same slurry reactor). A modeling study of the non-isothermal unsteady state Fischer-Tropsch reaction was carried out. In the second study the use of supercritical water for extraction and conversion of coal and oil shale was investigated. The two primary goals were to study the kinetics and mass transfer differences between conventional and supercritical liquefaction. The kinetic effects were studied by liquefying coal in supercritical toluene. Mass transfer studies were carried out on a model system consisting of naphthalene and supercritical carbon dioxide.  64 refs.

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/PC/71257-T18

CONTRACT  NUMBER: FG22-84PC71257