A two stage upgrading process, consisting of hydrogenation of armatic rings and hydrocracking of reduced aromatics was proposed for producing light fractions from the middle and heavey coal-derived distillates. In this work, optimizations of catalyst support, and metal species of hydrocracking catalysts were performed in order to design new catalysts for second stage upgrading. The following results were obtained; 1) Zeolite gave much higher hydrocracking activity than alumina and other double oxides. 2) The order of hydrocracking activity of metal species was Ni-W>Ni-Mo>Co-Mo. 3) USY zeolite showed much higher hydrocracking activity among various zeolites tested.
