"Abstract
A series of coal liquefaction reactions has been carried out at 450°C to examine the adduction tendency and the coal liquefaction efficiency of 1-naphthol using a product extraction scheme which minimizes co-solvent effects. An additional set of experiments was conducted to provide information on the relative effectiveness of substituted phenols compared with the parent compound.
The results indicate that 1-naphthol is a better solvent than phenanthrene, but a significantly poorer one than tetralin with regard to total conversion. Mixtures of this compound with tetralin do not promote conversion above that available from tetralin alone. In all cases, loss of naphthol by adduction to the coal liquids is a major problem.
The three cresols effect higher degrees of coal conversion when used 1:1 with tetralin than does phenol, but the mixtures are not as effective as tetralin alone. The single-ring phenolic species were found to exhibit only a very moderate tendency for adduction."
Another small point, perhaps, that tetralin, as reported by WVU, remains, as determined herein by Gulf, the best coal solvent so far identified. But, there is another issue herein. As we have previously reported, "phenol" is a by-product of coal combustion and conversion, and it has in other studies been noted, as in this one, to be a potentially-effective solvent for direct coal liquefaction. If some justification, whether cost or other, could be found to use phenol, instead of or in combination with tetralin, then it would be another synergy to be exploited in the CTL process; i.e., a by-product of coal dissolution could be employed to dissolve more coal for the process of liquid fuel synthesis. If not, "phenols", generically, have value for the chemical industry - as witness the multiple patents we sent you centered on their recovery from industrial waste streams. So, any that are created in, and, as they should be, recovered from the coal liquefaction process will have marketable value.