ANOVA ANALYSIS OF 2-STAGE COPROCESSING OF LOW-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE, COAL, AND PETROLEUM RESID

The sequencing of reactants and reaction parameters in the two-stage c oprocessing of coal with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and petroleum resid was investigated using two fractional factorial designs and ana lyses of variance(ANOVA). The experiments were designed to determine t he sequence of reactants and the reaction conditions that were require d to achieve the highest level of conversion of the solid reactants, a nd to achieve a desirable product slate in terms of product solubility and boiling point distribution. The reaction system that yielded the highest amount of hexane solubles regardless of the reaction temperatu re sequence or extraction after the first stage was the catalytic Liqu efaction of LDPE in the first stage, with the reaction products being added to coal and heavy resid in the second stage, which was also reac ted catalytically. Examination of the effect of coal content and H-2 p ressure in the first and second stages showed that the Ka pressure aff ected the amount of coal conversion achieved. A higher level of coal c ontent, 28% compared to 5%, resulted in higher coal conversion. Lower Ha pressure in both stages resulted in higher LDPE conversion, but adv ersely affected coal conversion, particularly at low coal concentratio ns.