Direct liquefaction proof-of-concept program: Final topical report, Bench Run 03 (227-93)

This report presents the results of bench-scale work, Bench Run PB-03, conducted under the DOE Proof of Concept--Bench Option Program in direct coal liquefaction at Hydrocarbon Technologies, Inc. in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The Bench Run PB-03 was the third of the nine runs planned in the POC Bench Option Contract between the US DOE and Hydrocarbon Technologies, Inc. The Bench Run PB-03 had multiple goals. These included the evaluation of the effects of dispersed slurry catalyst loadings and types on the performance of two-stage direct coal liquefaction, the effect of HTI`s new iron catalyst, modified with phosphorus, and the evaluation of the effect of recycle solvent hydrotreatment on the overall process performance. PB-03 employed a close-coupled (no interstage separator) configuration of hydroconversion reactors. Other features of PB-03 included the use of an in-line fixed bed hydrotreater for the net product. No significant effects on process performance was found by changing the loadings of iron and molybdenum in the ranges of 1,000--5,000 ppm for iron and 50--100 ppm for molybdenum. However, the modification of HTI`s iron-based gel catalyst with 100 ppm of phosphorous improved the process performance significantly. A newly tested Mo-Carbon dispersed catalyst was not found to be any better than Molyvan-A, which was used during all but one condition of PB-03. Hydrotreatment of part of the recycle solvent was found to have a positive influence on the overall performance