TITLE: Applied Research and Evaluation of Process Concepts for Liquefaction and Gasification of Western Coals. Quarterly Progress Report, April-June 1979.

AUTHOR: W. H. Wiser.

INST.  AUTHOR: Utah Univ., Salt Lake City. Dept. of Mining, Metallurgical and Fuels Engineering.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  Oct 79,  88p.

ABSTRACT:

The research reported herein is all of fundamental importance in summport of either a process for development of liquefaction of coal, catalysis or some related research. In particular, the projects are intended to apply the expertise developed by the coal research team at the University of Utah to problems in four general areas: evaluation of process concepts in relation to liquefaction and gasification of coal; catalysis studies of fundamental importance in liquefaction and gasification of coal; studies of fundamental principles involved in processes for liquefaction and gasification of coal; and properties of coal and coal conversion products of significance in liquefaction and gasification of coal. Research Highlights are: (1) a reaction pathway for hydrodeoxygenation of oxygen containing species is proposed based on studies of model compounds. Reaction pathways that can lead to coke formation and catalyst deactivation and identified. (2) Studies on the hydrodesulfurization of thiophene support the Kolbe mechanism. (3) Preasphaltenes produced at low conversions have been characterized. The heteroatom content is similar to that of the original coal and less than that of asphaltenes and oils. The carbon aromaticity is 0.6 to 0.7, but the molecules contain only 1-2 aromatic rings per condensed ring system. (ERA citation 05:019938)

CONTRACT  NUMBER: EX-76-C-01-2006