1-15 The Effects of Organic Solvent Extraction Condition on HyperCoal Production

Abstract

Thermal extractions with various organic solvents were carried out in order to produce HyperCoal (ashless coal) with a high yield. Light cycle oil (LCO) was found to be cost-effective and useful as an industrial extraction solvent, since it gave high extraction yields more than 60% by hot-filtration with a flow-type extractor. We also found that softening temperature of raw coal was a good index to select a coal giving the high extraction yield; the coal which shows softening temperature at lower temperature gave the higher yield. The high extraction yields with non-polar and no hydrogen-donating solvents like LCO can be the result of thermal relaxation; the lower softening temperature of the coals, the more remarkable is the thermal relaxation of the coal molecules, and the higher extraction yield is obtained.