Without preamble, the excerpt:
"Improvement of coal direct liquefaction by steam pretreatment
Authors
IVANENKO O. ; GRAFF R. A. ; BALOGH-NAIR V. ; BRATHWAITE C. ;Authors Affiliations
Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, The City College of New York, New York, New York 10031, ETATS-UNISAbstract
Pretreatment of coal by reaction with subcritical steam enhances its performance in direct liquefaction. Illinois No. 6 coal, first reacted with 51 atm of steam for 15 min at 340 °C, was liquefied in a coal injection autoclave to provide rapid heating. Liquefactions were carried out with raw and pretreated coal at high-severity (400 °C, 30 min) and low-severity (385 °C, 15 min) conditions under 1500 psia of hydrogen with tetralin as the donor solvent. Substantial improvement in product liquid quality is realized provided the pretreated coal is protected from oxygen and heated rapidly to liquefaction temperature. Under low-severity conditions, the oil yield is more than doubled, going from 12.5 to 29 wt %. Since previous work pointed to the destruction of ether cross-links by water as the dominant depolymerization mechanism during pretreatment, tests were conducted with several aromatic ethers as model compounds. These were exposed to steam and inert gas at pretreatment conditions and in some cases to liquid water at 315 °C. α-Benzylnaphthyl ether and α-naphthylmethyl phenyl ether show little difference in conversion and product distribution when the thermolysis atmosphere is changed from inert gas to steam. Hence, these compounds are poor models for coal in steam pretreatment. The otherwise thermally stable 9-phenoxyphenanthrene, on the other hand, is completely converted in 1 h by liquid water at 315 °C. At pretreatment conditions, however, mostly rearranged starting material is obtained. Therefore, 9-phenoxyphenanthrene, though less reactive, is a model for ether linkages in coal.Journal
Energy & Fuels; 1997, vol. 11, pp. 206-212
Publisher
American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, ETATS-UNIS (1987) (Revue)"
So, a college, in New York City, is improving a process for the direct liquefaction of coal into liquid fuels. We're glad that it's a United States institution, at least. But, what about the institutions of higher learning in Coal Country? Well, you do recall our dispatch of yesterday regarding the conversion of BS and dead horses' patoots, don't you?