Light aromatics from the hydropyrolysis of coal

The hydropyrolysis of British coals was studied at hydrogen pressures of 5–15 MPa using heating rates of up to 30 K s^?1. In a single-stage reactor, hydropyrolysis of a high-volatile coal gave a maximum yield of 4.5 Wt % of single-ring aromatics. The results suggested that the evolution of volatiles and their cracking to benzene, toluene and xylenes were sequential reactions. This was confirmed using a two-stage reactor in which the coal was heated in one zone and the volatiles cracked in a separate, isothermally heated zone. Yields of up to 12 wt % benzene were then obtained from a high-volatile bituminous coal in hydrogen at 15 MPa, both the cracking temperature and the vapour residence time being separately optimized. Hydropyrolysis of model compounds showed that benzene was a major product of the cracking of polynuclear aromatics under hydrogen pressure.