Coal hydroconversion: Influence of reactor type on the conversion products from two Mo dispersed coals. I. Char characterization

Swept fixed bed (sfb) and tubing bomb (tb) reactors have been used to hydrogenate two different coals, a subbituminous one from Spain and a bituminous one from the UK, under the same conditions (temperature range 300–450 °C, hydrogenation pressure ~ 15 MPa, and the same Mo salt as catalyst) in order to elucidate the influence of the reactor type and residence time with respect to conversion products. The hydroconversion variables used were fixed according to previous experiments carried out in both reactor types with the aim of following changes to the macromolecular network of coal and the release of the conversion products. Different analytical and spectroscopic techniques have been employed to obtain information on the hydrogenation process.