Coal asphaltene is an intermediate product in coal hydrogenolysis under high pressure as indicated in the following mechanism:
Coal→Oil (S
1) →Asphaltene→Oil (S
2)
In coal hydrogenolysis aimed at oil as its final product, it is important to elucidate the hydrogenolytic reactivity of asphaltene as well as raw coal. From this point of view the rate of hydrogenolysis of Hokkaido coal asphaltenes was determined, in addition to this, the change of chemical structure of Oil (S
2) with the progress of hydrogenolysis of asphaltene was clarified and compared with the chemical structure of Oil (S
1) formed directly from raw coal.
On the basis of the above results, the hydrogenolytic process of asphaltene was discussed in this report.
(1) The rate of hydrogenolysis of asphaltenes prepared from Taiheiyo coal and Oyubari coal was determined under the following experimental conditions reaction temperature: 400°C, initial hydrogen pressure: 100kg/cm
2, and reaction time: 10-123min. The hydrogenolytic reaction of both asphaltenes can be expressed as a first order reaction with respect to the unreacted asphaltene. The rate constants determined showed a tendency to decrease with the increase of carbon content of asphaltene.
(2) Oil (S
2) from Oyubari coal and Taiheiyo coal are both composed of 1 or 2 aromatic rings and 2 or 3 carbon atoms in the aliphatic chain on an average. The average molecular weight ranges from about 200 to 300. Oil (S
2) has the structural characteristics of higher aromaticity fa and shorter aliphatic chain than that of Oil (S
1).
(3) The chemical structure of Oil (S
2) hardly showed any change with the progress of conversion of asphaltene. As one cause of this it was estimated that asphaltene has a comparatively uniform composition. Moreover, it was noted that the chemical structure of Oil (S
2) prepared from different raw coals is similar. As to the cause it was surmised that parts of comparatively stable structure remain in unchanged form in Oil (S
2), because Oil (S
2) is subjected twice to high pressure hydrogenolysis (i. e. coal→asphaltene, and asphaltene→Oil (S
2.)
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