ADDITION EFFECTS OF COAL-DERIVED OIL AND COAL ON UPGRADING OF OIL SAND BITUMEN

The mechanism of synergistic interaction between bitumen and coal in c oprocessing was investigated in conjunction with hydrogen transfer bet ween them. Two types of reaction systems were used in this work: the u pgrading of bitumen and coal-derived oil, and the coprocessing of bitu men with either coal-derived oil or coal. Considerable retrogressive r eaction was observed in the upgrading of bitumen alone at 450 degrees C but was effectively suppressed by the addition of either coal-derive d oil or coal. These results strongly suggest that both coal-derived o il and coal act as good hydrogen donors or shuttlers in the coprocessi ng. Furthermore, their addition resulted in more production of light o il from bitumen. The conversion of coal into toluene solubles was infl uenced by the concentration of coal itself in the slurry feed, but the formation of distillable oil from coal seemed to be negligibly small.