C. W. Zielke

Hydrocracking of coal to light distillate with molten zinc chloride

Abstract Molten zinc chloride has the ability to rapidly hydrocrack coals, producing largely gasoline with a high octane number, and to remove nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur impurities, resulting in liquid products with 10–100 times less nitrogen and sulphur than corresponding fractions from other direct coal liquefaction processes. The process minimizes or eliminates toxic compounds owing to elimination of nitrogenbearing species and polynuclear aromatics, and produces gasoline at an estimated cost which is among the lowest for any direct coal liquefaction process. The paper summarizes a five-year process development in continuous units up to 1 t day −1 , and suggests further development needed to reach commercial scale.