Novel bimetallic dispersed catalysts for temperature-programmed coal liquefaction. Technical progress report, January--March, 1995

Abstract

Coal liquefaction involves cleavage of methylene, dimethylene and ether bridges connecting polycyclic aromatic units and the reactions of various oxygen functional groups. The selected compound for model coal liquefaction reactions are 4-(1-naphthylmethyl)bibenzyl (NMBB) and anthrone. This report describes hydrodeoxygenation of O-containing polycyclic model compounds using novel organometallic catalyst precursors and activity and selectivity of dispersed Fe catalysts from organometallic and inorganic precursors for hydrocracking of 4-(1-Naphthylmethyl) bibenzyl. For hydrodeoxygenation, model compound studies were performed using multi-ring systems, or those of comparable molecular weight, to investigate the capabilities of the dispersed catalysts. The model compounds selected include anthrone (carbonyl); dinaphthyl ether (aryl-aryl ether); xanthene (heterocyclic ether); and 2,6-di-t-butyl-4-methylphenol (hydroxyl). The catalyst precursors used were (NH{sub 4}){sub 2}MoS{sub 4}, [Ph{sub 4}P]{sub 2}[Ni(MoS{sub 4}){sub 2}] and Cp{sub 2}Co{sub 2}Mo{sub 2}(CO){sub 2}S{sub 4}. To examine what determines the activity and selectivity of Fe catalysts for hydrogenation and hydrocracking, various molecular precursors with Fe in different chemical environments have been tested in this work to help understand the influence of precursor structure and the effect of sulfur addition on the activity and selectivity of resulting Fe catalysts in model reactions of 4-(naphthylmethyl)bibenzyl. The authors have examined various precursors, including a thiocubane type cluster Cp{sub 4}Fe{sub 4}S{sub 4}, a cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl dimer Cp{sub 2}Fe{sub 2}(CO){sub 4}, ferrocene Cp{sub 2}Fe, a series of carbonyl precursors including Fe(CO){sub 5}, Fe{sub 2}(CO){sub 9}, and Fe{sub 3}(CO){sub 12}, and superfine iron oxide with average particle size of 30 {angstrom}.