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NIRE Annual Report
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1996

Solubilization and Desulphurization of High Sulfur Coal under Mild Conditions with Trifluoromethane Sulfonic Acid

Heteroatoms Division
Energy Resources Department
Objectives
Conventional coal liquefaction process requires the temperature exceeding 400°C and high hydrogen pressure(10-20MPa). The objective of this research is to moderate the reaction conditions for coal liquefaction, namely to clarify the potentiality of superacid as catalyst in coal liquefaction.
Results
The effect of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid(TFMS) concentration on the desulphurization are shown in Figure 1. Acid catalyzed reaction in the presence of TFMS with toluene at 200°C gave the treated coal (T-1-200) of 34.0% desulphurization. The desulphurization increased with an increase of the superacid concentration. The reaction with TFMS of 45.2 mmol/g-coal drastically raised the desulphurization up to 48.7%, but further increase of acid concentration did not accelerate the further desulphurization. Figure 2 showed the relationship between the desulphurization and the solubility of the treated coal depending on the super acid concentration. At the TFMS concentration of 11.3m mol/g-coal(T-1-200), desulphurization was significantly occurred, but the solubility of the treated coal was almost unchanged. Higher TFMS concentration gradually increased the desulphurization and drastically increased the solubility of the coal. At the comparatively lower TFMS concentration, the action of the superacid seemed to be desulphurization and coal depolymerization and the solubilization became predominant at the higher acid concentration.


Selected Publications
1) Solubilization of lignite with super acid(Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid) / iso-pentane at the mild conditions, Fuel Processing Technology, 45(11), 888(1995)
2) Solubilization of Taiheiyo Coal under Mild Conditions without Gaseous Hydrogen Catalysis by Trifluormethanesulfonic acid, Fuel, 74(6), 853(1995)
3) Solubilization and Desulphurization of High Sulfur Coal under Mild Conditions with Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, Coal Science and Technology24, Coal ScienceVolume II, 1737(1995)

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