Experimental study of the ignition behaviour of an adiabatic SRC-II coal liquefaction reactor

Experimental data are presented which describe the thermal behaviour of a bench-scale adiabatic coal liquefaction reactor operating in an open loop. The reactor employed external feedback control for maintaining adiabaticity. Conditions for both ignition and quench have been found for coal liquefaction at SRC-II operating conditions where repeated ignition/quench behaviour was demonstrated. No stable steady states were found between 450 °C and 475 °C for SRC-II operation. Ignition occurred at a feed temperature of ≈415 °C. The low steady states occurred at conditions of essentially no heat generation; at a very low extent of reaction. Some unexpected evidence of a preheater effect on reactor ignition was observed; however, the effect of preheater temperature profiles on reactor performance was not systematically studied.