Coal liquefaction yields in tetralin — their prediction from heat measurements of coal hydrogenation in H 2 by DSC

Abstract

Given et al. 1, in this laboratory, measured the liquefaction behaviour of coals at 673 K in the presence of tetralin but with no added catalyst or molecular hydrogen. Use of a stepwise multiple regression analysis led to a number of linear equations relating liquefaction conversion simultaneously to various coal characteristics. It was concluded that liquefaction yields can only be adequately accounted for by consideration of at least three coal properties. Properties found to be most important were total sulphur, total reactive macerais, and total carbon from ultimate analysis. Concurrently with liquefaction studies, we were measuring in this laboratory exothermic heats involved during hydrogenation of coals in H 2 using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) 2. This communication examines the possibility of using d.s.c. to predict coal liquefaction behaviour.