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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Catalytic coal liquefaction. Quarterly report, April-June 1981

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6231301

Measurements of O/sub 2/ chemisorption and BET surface area have been completed on a series of Co/Mo/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ catalysts. The catalysts were derived from Cyanamid 1442A and had been tested for coal liquefaction in batch autoclaves and continuous flow units. Catalyst samples were presulfided before determination of O/sub 2/ chemisorption. O/sub 2/ chemisorption values give the same rank-ordering as do the short-term liquefaction tests (batch autoclave, or initial behavior in a continuous unit). In connection with the fate of tin catalysts during coal liquefaction, calculations have been made of the relative thermodynamic stability of SnCl/sub 2/, Sn, SnO/sub 2/, and SnS in the presence of H/sub 2/, HCl, H/sub 2/S, and H/sub 2/O. It is concluded that, under typical liquefaction conditions, it is thermodynamically possible for SnCl/sub 2/ to be reduced by H/sub 2/ to metallic Sn, or to be oxidized by H/sub 2/O to SnO/sub 2/; however, SnS appears to be the ultimately stable phase. Uncertainties in the thermodynamic data for SnCl/sub 2/ and SnS, and possible variations in the extant partial pressures of HCl, H/sub 2/S, and H/sub 2/O, prevent unequivocal conclusions to be drawn for some of the reactions considered. Batch autoclave experiments have been completed for the comparison of SnS, SnS + NH/sub 4/Cl, and SnCl/sub 2/ as catalysts in the liquefaction of West Virginia coal under hydrogen pressure with a tetralin-naphthalene solvent. SnS alone behaves as poorly as no catalyst. By contrast, the combination of SnS + NH/sub 4/Cl is as effective as SnCl/sub 2/. These results are in agreement with old (ca 1950) experiments done in the absence of any added solvent. They leave unanswered the question of why SnS, presumably stable under autoclave conditions, should act as a hydrogenation catalyst during coal liquefaction. 5 tables.

Research Organization:
State Univ. of New York, Buffalo (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC22-76ET10518
OSTI ID:
6231301
Report Number(s):
DOE/ET/10518-T8; FE-2013-16; ON: DE85004107
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English