We are herein returning to a theme we've previously elaborated on to some extent:
Certain "wastes", including some waste plastics, can be liquefied with coal; and, in such co-liquefaction, the plastics (and, by extension, as we've elsewhere documented, other wastes of various sorts, including rubber and cellulose) contribute, as we have been led to understand it, some hydrogen to the overall process of hydrogenating a material, such as coal, that is composed primarily of carbon, to form hydrocarbon gasses and liquids.
These Japanese coal scientists, though, notably, also used the hydrogen donor solvent, "tetralin", as we believe to be specified by WVU in their "West Virginia Process" of direct coal liquefaction.
In any case, for whatever reason, the co-liquefaction of coal with, supposedly waste, polyethylene plastic resulted in a synergy, as in other reference we've cited, wherein yields, as we understand the abstract, were significantly higher than would be expected if the coal and plastic were liquefied separately.
The excerpt:
"Coliquefaction of Coal with Polyethylene Using Fe(CO)5−S as Catalyst
Toshiyuki Kanno, Masahiro Kimura, Na-oki Ikenaga, and Toshimitsu Suzuki
[Unable to display image]Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansai University, Suita, Osaka 564-8680, Japan
Energy Fuels, 2000, 14 (3), pp 612–617
Publication Date (Web): March 7, 2000
Copyright © 2000 American Chemical Society
Abstract
The coliquefaction of Yallourn coal (YL) with polyethylene (PE) was carried out at 400 or 425 C under pressurized H2 in 1-methylnaphthalene or tetralin. In the coliquefaction without a catalyst, the conversion and the oil yield increased by 11−12% as compared to that of expected value from the additive values of respective runs. We considered that free radicals produced from YL coal were stabilized by the hydrogen abstraction from PE during the coliquefaction ... . The addition of a large amount of Fe ... catalyst ... increased the conversion and the hexane soluble oil yield in the homoliquefaction of YL coal or PE... ."
We were compelled to edit the abstract in the extreme, deleting much of what are, for us, far too technical details. Like much of what we have brought to your attention, the full report begs reading by qualified and competent individuals, experts who genuinely have our nation's best interests at heart. Maybe then all of us might finally benefit from the facts, that: Our domestic coal can be liquefied into the fuels and chemical manufacturing materials we need; and, from the synergies such coal liquefaction industry would offer us, including the opportunity to make productive use of some of our industrial and agricultural wastes, we could start to make the most efficient, most profitable, and cleanest, use of the resources we have been blessed with.
