Catalysts and process developments for two-stage liquefaction. Quarterly technical progress report, First quarter FY 1991 (October 1--December 31, 1990)

Technical Report · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:10188208

Cronauer, D C; Swanson, A J; Sajkowski, D J

Research underway in this project centers upon developing and evaluating catalysts and process improvements for coal liquefaction in the two-stage close-coupled catalytic process. Laboratory-scale pretreating experiments are essentially complete. There is little advantage for presoaking Black Thunder coal or Martin Lake lignite in a hydrogen-donor solvent, such as tetralin, at temperatures up to 600 F prior to liquefaction at higher temperatures. Only a nominal increase in coal conversion to toluene solubles was observed. There was a limited positive effect as a result of acetic acid pretreatment of Black Thunder coal. However, sulfurous acid treatment is more effective, and is preferred. No further research in caustic pretreatment should be undertaken in conjunction with donor-solvent coal liquefaction, because overall coal conversion was reduced, solid separation was difficult in the caustic treatment step, and sodium additional to the traded coal solids was seen (sodium is a liquefaction catalyst poison). With hydrous metal oxide catalysts, the initial testing results of Sandia`s NiMo/hydrous titanate oxide (NiMo/HTO) preparations are reported in this quarterly. These materials are comparable to commercial hydrotreating catalysts although the support properties, such as pore structure, have not been optimized. A low promoter level NiMo/HTO catalyst performed particularly well despite having about half of the typical commercial catalyst promoter metal levels.

• Research Organization: Amoco Oil Co., Naperville, IL (United States). Research and Development Dept.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-88PC88819
• OSTI ID: 10188208
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/88819--T4; ON: DE95001209; BR: AA2515150
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010402
010405
ACID HYDROLYSIS
ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CHEMICAL REACTION YIELD
COAL LIQUIDS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HYDROGENATION AND LIQUEFACTION
LIGNITE
MOLYBDENUM
NICKEL
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PROGRESS REPORT
PURIFICATION AND UPGRADING
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SUBBITUMINOUS COAL
TITANIUM OXIDES
TSL PROCESS