Structural changes occurring in coal liquefaction

Wyodak and Monterey Coals have been liquefied in solvents of systematically varied composition, and the products characterized by selective oxidation. Comparison of results of treating model compounds and the parent coals indicates that liquefaction results in an increase in arylmethyl groups and in dehydrogenation of alicyclic rings to form aromatic rings.     

New characterization techniques for coal-derived liquids

Development of understanding of the chemistry of coal liquefaction is often limited by the tools available to study compositional change. This paper discusses several new and useful techniques for characterization of coal-derived liquids. A single method of analysis is shown to be much less informative than the combined results from several methods. In particular, combinations of liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and field ionization mass spectroscopy (FIMS) are shown to be particularly useful. Liquid chromatography offers a convenient method to isolate chemically distinct fractions of both distillates and non-dstillates which on subsequent further characterization can yield insight into understanding the chemistry involved in coal liquefaction. Through sophisticated data manipulation mechanistic information can be gained via FIMS which would be nearly impossible to achieve using other characterization tools.