Fundamental studies of retrograde reactions in direct liquefaction

The overall objective of the program was to improve the understanding of retrograde reactions and their dependencies on coal rank and structure, and/or coal modifications and reaction conditions. Because retrograde reactions are competitive with bond breaking reactions, an understanding of both is required to shift the competition in favor of the latter. Related objectives were to clarify the conflicting observations reported in literature on such major topics as the role of oxygen groups in retrograde reactions and to provide a bridge from very fundamental studies on pure compounds to phenomenological studies on actual coal. This information was integrated into the FG-DVC model, which was improved and extended to the liquefaction context