Steam pretreatment for coal liquefaction. [Monthly report], September 1, 1993--September 30, 1993

Rapid heating liquefaction of steam pretreated Illinois No.6 coal mixed with 4A zeolite was carried out this month. Liquefaction yields are close to those obtained with 5A zeolite at the same coal/zeolite ration. Aquathermolysis of model compound 9-phenoxyphenanthrene was carried out this month under conditions similar to employed by Katritzky but for shorter time. Analysis of recovered products showed incomplete cleavage of the ether. This demonstrates the importance of longer reaction time even at high pressure. It will be of interest to determine if high conversions can be achieved at long reaction times and low pressure. Additional amounts of model compounds 2-naphthyl methyl phenyl ether and 2-naphthyl benzyl ether were synthesized. Purification of these compounds are now in progress