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Nitrogen bases and carbon deposits on coal liquefaction catalysts

Conference · · Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry; (USA)
OSTI ID:5435692
; ;  [1]
  1. Kentucky Energy Cabinet Laboratory, Lexington (USA)

The respective roles of coke and alkali as poisons of coal liquefaction catalyst activity have attracted the interest of numerous researchers in the past decade. It is believed that coke formation occurs on catalyst acid sites and that the basicity of coke precursors is an important factor in determining the propensity for coke formation. It is also well-known that alkali metals, especially sodium, can poison acid sites. The coal liquefaction catalyst environment often contains basic compounds (nitrogen bases) and alkali metals (in the coal ash). Recently, the authors have correlated elemental analysis data obtained for catalyst samples from the Wilsonville, Alabama coal liquefaction pilot plant. They were surprised to find that a simple mechanistic model involving (a) nitrogen bases chemisorbed on acid sites, and (b) poisoning of acid sites by sodium, can explain virtually all of the interesting coke-formation trends seen in the Wilsonville process since the inception of the two-stage liquefaction (TSL) process mode. The purpose of this paper is to describe this model.

OSTI ID:
5435692
Report Number(s):
CONF-8806136--
Journal Information:
Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry; (USA), Journal Name: Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry; (USA) Vol. 33:2; ISSN 0569-3772; ISSN ACFPA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English