Separation of arenols from a low-temperature coal tar by liquid-liquid extraction

Low-temperature coal tar (LTCT) is a sticky liquid mixture produced mainly from coal pyrolysis, which contains various value-added chemicals (VACs). Liquid-liquid extraction is considered as one of the green and effective ways to explore the organic composition and separate the VACs from LTCT. Herein, petroleum ether, methanol, and carbon disulfide were used to extract arenols from a LTCT. As a result, the relative content and absolute content of arenols extracted from the LTCT are ca . 96.3% and 85.9%, respectively. Among them, p -cresol is predominant, accounting for 22.2%. The isolated contents of arenols are up to 84.6%. Moreover, a kilogram-scale operation was carried out under the same conditions, which offers a potential application in industrial production.