Relationship between swelling of coal particles and apparent viscosity of slurry during coal liquefaction for Akabira coal/creosote oil slurry system

Abstract

Using a viscometer and a dilatometer, the apparent viscosity of a coal slurry and the swelling ratio of a loosely packed bed of coal particles were measured under liquefaction conditions, to investigate the mechanism of the viscosity change. The swelling ratio of the packed bed increased as the volume of individual particles increased, and decreased with liquefaction during heating. The apparent viscosity of the coal slurry changed with the solid volume fraction, which is dependent on swelling. The change in the apparent viscosity was explained in terms of the swelling volume fraction by Mooney's equation.