We have often made reference to WVU's "West Virginia Process" for the direct liquefaction of Coal, usually noting that their technology, as we understand it, specifies use of a solvent, "tetralin", which we have also reported as being an hydrogenated version of the primary Coal oil, Napthalene.
Herein, we submit report of how Napthalene is actually converted, and efficiently, into the hydrogenating Coal solvent, Tetralin, from Penn State University's Chunsan Song, and colleagues in Taiwan.
You will recall that we have frequently cited Dr. Song's achievements, with Penn State colleagues such as Craig Grimes, in the development of "tri-reforming" technologies, in which effluent Carbon Dioxide is reacted, recycled, with Methane to synthesize higher hydrocarbons.
In any case, note that some of the reactions involved in the conversion of Naphthalene to Tetralin are exothermic, and it is implied that such heat energy could be recovered, and recycled into the total process to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Moreover, this publication is highly technical and involves measurements and manipulations of multiple variables to improve the efficiencies of Naphthalene conversion to Tetralin.
Comment follows our, thus, very brief, non-technical, excerpts from:
"Low Temperature Naphthalene Hydrogenation
Shawn Lin, Yuan-Ze Institute of Technology, Taiwan; and, Chunsan Song, Penn State University
Introduction: The hydrogenation of aromatic and polyaromatic compounds are typically exothermic. ... Noble metal catalysts are active for the hydrogenation of aromatics. The naphthalene conversions (to tetralin) were all above 70% (over platinum and palladium).
It is clear that the noble metal catalysts are ... suitable for the hydrogenation of naphthalene."
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There are, as we have previously documented, multiple Coal conversion technologies developed by multiple entities, aside from WVU, which specify the use of Tetralin as the hydrogen donor solvent of choice.
We are documenting another of those for you today, via separate dispatch, in our report of: "Liquefaction of Coal - United States Patent 4,032,428; June, 1977; Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation, NY".
The point is: If we want Tetralin for use in converting Coal into liquid hydrocarbons, then we can, according to Penn State University, as herein, efficiently manufacture such Tetralin from the long-known Coal oil, Naphthalene.
