THE HYDROGENATION OF ALBERTA COALS: I. PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS ON SUSPENSION MEDIA AND CATALYSTS WITH THREE COALS

Abstract

The action of five suspension media and various catalysts in the hydrogenation of coal has been investigated. It has been shown that the Alberta coals used may be hydrogenated successfully. The properties of the medium have been found to be a controlling factor in the process. The effectiveness of the different media varied with the ease with which they could be hydrogenated and dehydrogenated. Tetrahydronaphthalene was found to be much superior to other media, and showed a greater effect than could be attributed to any of the catalysts used. Experiments showed that this compound was effective because of its action as a hydrogen carrier. Of the catalysts used, molybdic oxide and a mixture of iron and chromium oxides were most effective. The details of the reactions are discussed briefly.