This report describes work completed during the fourth quarter of a three year project to study the effects of mild chemical pretreatment on coal dissolution reactivity during low severity liquefaction or coal/oil coprocessing. The overall objective of this research is to elucidate changes in the chemical and physical structure of coal by pretreating with methanol or other simple organic solvent and a trace amount of hydrochloric acid and measure the influence of these changes on coal dissolution reactivity. This work is part of a larger effort to develop a new coal liquefaction or coal/oil coprocessing scheme consisting of three main process steps: (1) mile pretreatment of the feed coal to enhance dissolution reactivity and dry the coal, (2) low severity thermal dissolution of the pretreated coal to obtain a very reactive coal-derived residual material amenable to upgrading, and (3) catalytic upgrading of the residual products to distillate liquids.

This report describes work completed during the fifth quarter of a three year project to study the effects of mild chemical pretreatment on coal dissolution reactivity during low severity liquefaction or coal/oil coprocessing. The overall objective of this research is to elucidate changes in the chemical and physical structure of coal by pretreating with methanol or other simple organic solvent and a trace amount of hydrochloric acid and measure the influence of these changes on coal dissolution reactivity. Work this quarter focused on analytical characterization of untreated and treated Wyodak subbituminous coal and Illinois {number sign}6 bituminous coal. Mossbauer spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction techniques were used to study the effect of methanol/HCl pretreatment on the composition of each coal's inorganic phase. Results from these studies indicated that calcite is largely removed during pretreatment, but that other mineral species such as pyrite are unaffected. This finding is significant, since calcite removal appears to directly correlate with low severity liquefaction enhancement. Further work will be performed to study this phenomenon in more detail.

This report describes work completed during the fourth quarter of a three year project to study the effects of mild chemical pretreatment on coal dissolution reactivity during low severity liquefaction or coal/oil coprocessing. The overall objective of this research is to elucidate changes in the chemical and physical structure of coal by pretreating with methanol or other simple organic solvent and a trace amount of hydrochloric acid and measure the influence of these changes on coal dissolution reactivity. This work is part of a larger effort to develop a new coal liquefaction or coal/oil coprocessing scheme consisting of three main process steps: (1) mile pretreatment of the feed coal to enhance dissolution reactivity and dry the coal, (2) low severity thermal dissolution of the pretreated coal to obtain a very reactive coal-derived residual material amenable to upgrading, and (3) catalytic upgrading of the residual products to distillate liquids.

Recent research efforts in direct coal liquefaction are focused on lowering the level of reaction severity, identification and determination of the causes of retrogressive reactions, and improving the economics of the process. Ambient pretreatment of coals using methanol and a trace amount of hydrochloric acid was extensively studied in connection with low severity coal liquefaction. Ambient pretreatment of eight Argonne coals using methanol/HCl improved THF-soluble conversions 24.5 wt % (maf basis) for Wyodak subbituminous coal and 28.4 wt % for Beulah-Zap lignite with an average increase of 14.9 wt % for the eight Argonne coals at 623 K (350{degrees}C) reaction temperature and 30 minutes reaction time. Optimal pretreatment conditions were determined using Wyodak and Illinois No. 6 coals. Acid concentration was the most important pretreatment variable studied; liquefaction reactivity increased with increasing acid concentration up to 2 vol %. The FTIR spectra of treated and untreated Wyodak coal samples demonstrated formation of carboxylic functional groups during pretreatment, a result of divalent (Ca, Mg) cationic bridge destruction. The extent of liquefaction reactivity directly correlated with the amount of calcium removed during pretreatment, and results from calcium ``addback`` experiments supported the observation that calcium adversely affected coal reactivity at low severity reaction …

This report describes work completed during the fifth quarter of a three year project to study the effects of mild chemical pretreatment on coal dissolution reactivity during low severity liquefaction or coal/oil coprocessing. The overall objective of this research is to elucidate changes in the chemical and physical structure of coal by pretreating with methanol or other simple organic solvent and a trace amount of hydrochloric acid and measure the influence of these changes on coal dissolution reactivity. Work this quarter focused on analytical characterization of untreated and treated Wyodak subbituminous coal and Illinois {number_sign}6 bituminous coal. Mossbauer spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction techniques were used to study the effect of methanol/HCl pretreatment on the composition of each coal`s inorganic phase. Results from these studies indicated that calcite is largely removed during pretreatment, but that other mineral species such as pyrite are unaffected. This finding is significant, since calcite removal appears to directly correlate with low severity liquefaction enhancement. Further work will be performed to study this phenomenon in more detail.