THE UPGRADING OF PETROLEUM RESIDUUM AND COAL IN CATALYTIC COPROCESSING

The combined catalytic reactions using different types of petroleum re siduum and coal were performed at 425 degrees C and 60 minutes in the presence of hydrogen to upgrade both materials to high quality synthet ic fuels. In order to improve this coprocessing technology, the effect of the chemical and physical properties of both materials on the copr ocessing product yields was investigated through a parametric study. I n all reaction combinations, substantial increase in maltene productio n and high coal conversions of over 84% were observed regardless of pe troleum residuum type and coal rank. The petroleum residuum properties of specific gravity and conradson carbon residue had effects on aspha ltene production and coal conversion. The results of quantitative anal ysis for the amount of coal upgraded during coprocessing lead to concl ude that a large amount of coal converted to maltene fraction due to h igh catalytic activity and reactive hydrogen donor richness of coproce ssing system. However, most of the heavier fractions were formed prima rily from coal regardless of the type of residuum used.