Hydrogenation of brown coal: 6. Reactions of coal-derived products with hydrogen in the presence of metal-based catalysts

The product from the hydrogenation of an iron-tin treated Morwell, Victorian coal was separated into a number of fractions by solvent separation. Each of these fractions (tetrahydrofuran-insoluble materials, asphaltols, asphaltenes and oils) was reacted separately with hydrogen in tetralin both with and without added catalysts. The effect of added catalyst and of temperature, pressure, time and solvent on the hydrocracking and repolymerization reactions is discussed. The interconvertibility of the brown coal-derived products is clearly established, reinforcing the importance of incorporating reversibility of reactions in mechanistic models developed to describe coal hydroliquefaction.