http://www.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprint%20archive/Files/12_3_ATLANTIC%20CITY_09-68_0195.pdf
We believe the essence of the attached technical report from Consol, accessible via the embedded link, might well have been originally reported, as we documented in a recent submission, as "A Synthetic Fuels Process", which was delivered at the 8th World Petroleum Conference, 1971, in Moscow.
No further comment on what should, by now, to all, be the absurdity of that venue, with it's implications for the further dissemination of useful knowledge related to Coal liquefaction science in the United States of America.
However, herein we have further description of a technology which would, if Consol had not been subsequently acquired by Continental Oil, and the science herein described tucked away in one of Big Oil's musty security vaults, have helped us advance the economy of Coal liquefaction, and enabled us to reduce it long ago to commercial practice.
As a sort of foreword, note one quote taken from the concluding comments: "The assistance of the U. S. Office of Coal Research in sponsoring this work is gratefully acknowledged."
Some excerpts, comment interspersed and appended:
"Kinetics of Hydrocracking of Coal Extract with Molten Zinc Chloride
R.T. Struck, et. al.
(Date of publication is uncertain. We believe it to have been, based on related, documentation, in 1968)
Research Division, Consolidation Coal Company, Library, PA
The use of molten zinc chloride as a catal st for hydrocracking of polynuclear hydrocarbons has been previously described.('t'f The superiority of zinc chloride over conventional hydrocracking catalysts was shown for pyrene, coal, and coal extract. 'Results in batch autoclaves showed that zinc chloride gave more rapid reaction, more complete conversion to gasoline-range naphtha, and a very high octane number without reforming. The high octane number is due primarily to the ability of the Lewis acid, zinc chloride, to maintain acid catalysis in the presence of considerable amounts of nitrogen in the feed, thus giving a high percentage of branched-chain hydrocarbons with high Octane numbers.
Since the previous reports, a continuous zinc chloride hydrocracker has been built and operated, confirming the batch work, and also providing effluent catalyst for regeneration studies, as well as information on corrosion. A continuous catalyst regeneration unit was also operated, and will be described in the following'paper. A complete report on all of the work is available from the U. S. Office of Coal Research.
The feedstock used for all of the work described here was a coal extract prepared by continuous extraction of Pittsburgh Seam coal, Ireland Mine,using tetralin solvent at 750F with a residence time of 40 minutes. Unextracted coal and mineral matter 'were removed by filtration at 646F. The final extract represents 81%of the moisture- and ash-free coal.
(Two things, by the way: The "tetralin solvent", as we have many times documented, is key to WVU's "West Virginia Process" for the direct liquefaction of Coal; and, the "Ireland Mine" is, or was, in West Virginia. - JtM)
Results in the continuous unit generally confirmed previous batch results, showing higher conversion at lower levels of zinc oxide. Temperature has the expected result -more rapid reaction at higher temperatures ... .
Straight run gasolines from zinc chloride hydrocracking show Research Octane Numbers (clear) of 87 to 91 and a high sensitivity to lead. With 3 ml of tetraethyl lead per gallon, the RON values rise to 99 to 101. If reformed, the product would be ... suitable for a high-octane blending stock for gasolines.
(Did everyone catch that? "Straight run gasoline from zinc chloride hydrocracking" of Coal showed "Octane Numbers ... of 87 to 91" and could be raised to "99 to 101" Octane. - JtM)
CONCLUSIONS: The kinetic model which assumes that the hydrocracking of Coal extract with zinc chloride catalyst can be represented by two or more simultaneous first-order reactions has been shown to represent both batch and continuous unit data. An average of 75% of the extract converts via a fast reaction with an activation energy of 35 kcal/g mole. The reaction rate constant for this reaction is affected somewhat by hydrogen pressure, but is independent of the ratio of ZnO to ZnCl.
The assistance of the U. S. Office of Coal Research in sponsoring this work is gratefully acknowledged."
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Our opinion, for what it's worth, is that the knowledge we could make 91 Octane gasoline, in "straight" runs, from Coal, in the late 1960's, would have been "gratefully acknowledged" by the United States taxpayers who, through the "U. S. Office of Coal Research", helped to support the research and development that led to that conclusion - - - had those United States taxpayers, especially those resident in US Coal Country, actually been told of, and allowed to benefit from, that knowledge.