Institute of Chemistry and Chemico-Metallurgical Processes, 42 K. Marx Str., Krasnoyarsk 660049, Russia
Institute of Organic Chemistry, 44 Kasprzaka Str., Warszawa 01-224, Poland
University of Strathclyde, Thomas Graham Building, 295 Cathedral Str., Glasgow G1 1XL, UK
Abstract
Kansk-Achinsk brown coal hydrogenation and swelling in tetralin, in low molecular alcohols, in other solvents and in binary mixtures were studied. Tetralin was found to be the most effective liquefaction solvent, but methanol and ethanol were the active ones in coal swelling. Synergistic effects were observed when the mixtures of tetralin and methanol or ethanol were used for liquefaction and swelling. The effect of binary solvents was shown to be due to the ability of alcohol components to cause brown coal to swell improving the availability of the fragments of coal matter for the reactive hydrogen donor tetralin molecules."
This study confirms, first, the efficacy of the hydrogen donor solvent, tetralin, as specified by West Virginia University in their "West Virginia Process" for direct coal liquefaction.
It also demonstrates, as has other research we've cited, that ethanol, as derived from biological fermentation, serves to enhance the coal liquefaction solvent abilities of tetralin.
Unstated is the fact that ethanol can be, and most usually is, produced from the fermentation of botanical produce, i.e., purpose-grown crops, including algae, or agricultural and forestry wastes, and it's carbon content, recycled into liquid fuel, is all extracted, via photosynthesis, from the atmospheric load of carbon dioxide.
The contribution ethanol might make to overall atmospheric carbon reduction, if used for the purpose of enhancing coal liquefaction, might be relatively small. But, it could be a piece of the total environmental solution, especially when we accept the fact that our human contributions to atmospheric carbon, relative to some natural processes, such as volcanism, are relatively small. Moreover, if you recall other research we've cited, biological cellulose, another carbon-recycling botanical material, can be converted, alongside coal, into liquid fuel products in processes just like the one cited in this dispatch.
And, perhaps at this time more importantly, ethanol, by improving the efficiency of coal conversion processes, can help us to better utilize our vast coal resources in making the liquid fuels we need domestically, rather than continuing to transfer our wealth overseas to unfriendly foreign petroleum powers, and thereby continuing to impoverish our own, United States, citizens..