AnaLysis of Coal Liquefaction Reaction in a Bench-Scale Direct Coal Liquefaction Reactor

Abstract

Coal liquefaction experiments for Taiheiyo coal with decrystallized anthracene oil as the solvent and red-mud/sulfur as the catalyst were conducted by a batch reactor with rapid heating operation and, a bench-scale continuous preheater. Rate constants were obtained from analysis of the experimental results by two reactants model. Moreover, the coal conversion in a continuous liquefier was estimated with these rate constants by the perfect mixed reactor model.
The coal liquefaction rates of the less active component for Taiheiyo coal were diffe-rent between the batch reactor and the continuous reactor, with decrystallized anthracene oil as the solvent. It was considered that the reason was due to the differ-ences in the doner hydrogen concentration of the two reactors.
The observed values of the coal conversion were approximately coincided with the calculated values. Therefore, it was found that the frequency factor of the reaction rate of the less active coal components varied with both the pressure and the reactor types, but the activation energy did not change. Effect of vaporization of the solvent on the values of the residence time of slurry could be neglected in these experimental conditions (30 MPa, 723 K), and they were represented by the values caluculated using only the gas holdup.