The Dual Role of Oxygen Functions in Coal Pretreatment and Liquefaction: Crosslinking and Cleavage Reactions

The overall objective of this project was to elucidate and model the dual role of oxygen functions in thermal pretreatment and liquefaction of low rank coals through the application of analytical techniques and theoretical models. The project was an integrated study of model polymers representative of coal structures, raw coals of primarily low rank, and selectively modified coals in order to provide specific information relevant to the reactions of real coals. The investigations included liquefaction experiments in microautoclave reactors, along with extensive analysis of intermediate solid, liquid and gaseous products. Attempts were made to incorporate the results of experiments on the different systems into a liquefaction model