Coal liquefaction process streams characterization and evaluation: Assessment of hydroaromatic content and hydrogen donor ability of coal liquefaction intermediates by means of catalytic dehydrogenation

Abstract

This study demonstrated the feasibility of using catalytic dehydrogenation for the examination of direct coal liquefaction process-derived materials. The technique, which was developed for the examination of coals, was applied to the 850{degrees}F{sup +} distillation resids of process stream samples and the tetrahydrofuran (THF)-soluble portion of those resids. Additionally, selected resid samples were silylated to block phenolic {minus}OH groups, then subjected to the catalytic removal of hydroaromatic hydrogen to determine the effect of phenolics on hydrogen evolution and hydrogen transfer ability of the resids. The results of this study indicate that the dehydrogenation method may, with additional development, become a useful tool for the analysis of the process-derived materials. This report describes the work performed at the University of Pittsburgh under a subcontract from CONSOL Inc., Research and Development. CONSOL`s prime contract to the US Department of Energy (Contract No. DE-AC22-89PC89883 ``Coal Liquefaction Process Streams Characterization and Evaluation``) established a program for the analysis of direct coal liquefaction derived materials. The program involves a number of participating organizations whose analytical expertise is being applied to these materials.