The enclosed report, from Poland, provides even more confirmation of the practical reality of coal-to-liquid conversion and, specifically, of the direct coal liquefaction technology, intensively studied and developed by West Virginia University, which utilizes "tetralin" as the active agent in coal liquefaction and hydrogenation for the synthesis of liquid fuels.
Brief comment follows the excerpt:
"Document title
Effects of pressure on hydrogen transfer from tetralin to coal macerals
Author(s)
PAJAK Janusz ; SOCHA LukaszAuthors Affiliations
Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, Opole University of Technology, Luboszycka 5, 45-036 Opole, POLOGNEInstitute of Coal Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sowinskiego 5, 44-121 Gliwice, POLOGNE
Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Polymers, Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, Strzody 9, 44-100 Gliwice, POLOGNE
Abstract
The influence of pressure (within a range of 5-100 MPa) on the rate of hydrogen transfer from tetralin to various coal macerals has been studied. Ten maceral concentrates (five vitrinites, three inertinites, and two liptinites) were used. The reactions were conducted at a temperature of 310 or 320 °C, depending on sample reactivity. The progress of reaction was followed by measuring tetralin dehydrogenation with gas chromatography. Vitrinite concentrates with high oxygen content are the most reactive, and the rate of their reaction with tetralin is accelerated by pressure. Pressure effects suggest a bimolecular transition state for most vitrinite/tetralin reactions. The reaction rate of inertinite concentrates is unchanged or even slowed by the change in pressure. These results suggest the increased contribution of the radical capping mechanism or the reaction path, in which tetralin reacts with low-energy coal radicals. As the pressure increases, the reaction rate of one liptinite sample is accelerated while the reaction of the other liptinite is retarded."Please don't be distracted by some of the technical-sounding terms. "Macerals", for instance, just means, in essence, the various components, physical parts, observable in coal, while the various and several "ites" just refer to whether those coal components, the various macerals, are believed to have arisen from plant stems and tree trunks, or leaves and flowers, or mostly unidentifiable stuff like completely rotted plant parts and pollen. It's all coal, and for now that, and the fact that we can make liquid fuels from it, is all we really need to know.
In any case, the Poles are, directly or indirectly, helping to refine WVU's process for converting coal into liquid fuel components with the tetralin-based direct liquefaction process. The kind of coordinated, world-wide effort we've documented to be directed towards that end would not be taking place if the technology were not real, and, in a practical and profitable way, achievable.