The coliquefaction of coal with discarded tire rubber is studied at 10
00 psig (cold) of hydrogen and 400 degrees C using a hva bituminous co
al in the presence of an impregnated iron sulfide catalyst, without ad
dition of a sulfiding agent. The base case is a noncatalytic coliquefa
ction under the same conditions. The catalyst shows activity comparabl
e to other catalysts commonly used for direct coal liquefaction (DCL)
under the conditions used here. The values of the conversion and yield
, when using the tire as solvent, differ from the corresponding values
when a facile hydrogen-donating solvent such as tetralin is used. How
ever, these differences diminish in the presence of the iron sulfide c
atalyst, under the conditions studied. Even at Fe levels as low as 110
0 ppm in coal, the catalyst greatly improves the coal conversion, from
44% (in the base case) to 60%. The liquefaction rate is first-order d
ependent on the catalyst loading and first-order dependent on the rubb
er tire loading. Impregnation of the total amount of catalyst on only
12% of feed coal (to the reactor) achieves the same coal conversion as
when 100% of the feed coal is impregnated with the same total amount
of catalyst. This is significant because it implies that only a small
fraction of the feed coal in a large-scale operation needs to be subje
cted to the catalyst impregnation process. The presence of the byprodu
ct sodium chloride from the formation of the iron sulfide catalyst doe
s not significantly affect catalyst performance. This is a significant
result because it implies that extremely rigorous washing of the impr
egnated coal is not essential for commercial-scale operation of this p
rocess.