Co-liquefaction of biomass and coal in supercritical water is proposed with
the intention that hydrogen matching between biomass and coal takes place,
resulting in enhanced coal liquefaction and preferable liquefaction produc
ts. A semi-batch packed-bed reactor is employed to co-liquefy cellulose uti
lized for a model compound of biomass and Ishikari coal in supercritical wa
ter at 673 K and 25 MPa. No interaction between coal and cellulose is obser
ved for the production of residue and water insoluble product, judging from
the yield and its composition. On the contrary, the yield of the water-sol
uble product increased for the case of co-liquefaction. Both hydrogen to ca
rbon ratio and oxygen to carbon ratio of the water-soluble product increase
d by co-liquefaction. The mechanism for this interaction is proposed based
on the addition reaction of compounds derived from cellulose with coal-deri
ved compounds to increase the recoverable yield of the water-soluble produc
t. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.