THE EFFECT OF ASH AND ASH CONSTITUENTS ON THE LIQUEFACTION YIELD OF TURKISH LIGNITES AND ASPHALTITES

The objective of this work was to study mineral matter effects in coal liquefaction. A suite of 16 lignites and two asphaltites have been li quefied in a batch autoclave under a standard set of reaction conditio ns. Experiments were performed at 440-degrees-C, 60 min residence time and 8 MPa hydrogen pressure (cold charge). All experiments were carri ed out in solvents, like anthracene oil, creosote oil, tetralin and TU PRAS vaccum residual oil, at a solvent:lignite ratio of two. The ash c ontent of lignites and asphaltites ranged from 7.73 (dry) to 59.99% (d ry). It was found that, generally, as the ash content increased, the t otal conversion of lignite and conversion to tetrahydrofuran (THF), to luene or hexane solubles increased; total conversion, THF and toluene solubles yields appear to remain constant at high ash contents. Multip le regression analysis was employed to relate yield and conversion dat a with specific ash minerals.