21 research outputs found
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A characterization and evaluation of coal liquefaction process streams. Quarterly report, January 1--March 31, 1997
Described in this report are the following activities: CONSOL characterized process stream samples from HTI Run ALC-2, in which Black Thunder Mine coal was liquefied using four combinations of dispersed catalyst precursors. Oil assays were completed on the HTI Run PB-05 product blend. Fractional distillation of the net product oil of HTI Run POC-1 was completed. CONSOL completed an evaluation of the potential for producing alkylphenyl ethers from coal liquefaction phenols. At the request of DOE, various coal liquid samples and relevant characterization data were supplied to the University of West Virginia and the Federal Energy Technology Center. The University of Delaware is conducting resid reactivity tests and is completing the resid reaction computer model. The University of Delaware was instructed on the form in which the computer model is to be delivered to CONSOL
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A Characterization and Evaluation of Coal Liquefaction Process Streams
This is the Technical Progress Report for the eleventh quarter of activities under DOE Contract No. DE-AC22-94PC93054. It covers the period January 1 through March 31, 1997. Described in this report are the following activities: (1) CONSOL characterized process stream samples from HTI Run ALC-2, in which Black Thunder Mine coal was liquefied using four combinations of dispersed catalyst precursors. These results are described in the Results and Discussion section of this report. (2) Oil assays were completed on the HT I Run PB-05 product blend. Background information is presented in the Results and Discussion section of this report. The results are presented in Appendix 1. (3) Fractional distillation of the net product oil of HTI Run POC-1 was completed. Background information is presented in the Results and Discussion section of this report. The results are presented in Appendix 2. (4) CONSOL completed an evaluation of the potential for producing alkylphenyl ethers from coal liquefaction phenols. Those results are described briefly in the Results and Discussion section of this report. The full report is presented in Appendix 3. (5) At the request of DOE, various coal liquid samples and relevant characterization data were supplied to the University of West Virginia and the Federal Energy Technology Center. These activities are described in Appendix 4. (6) The University of Delaware is conducting resid reactivity tests and is completing the resid reaction computer model. A summary of Delaware's progress is provided in the Results and Discussion section. (7) The University of Delaware was instructed on the form in which the computer model is to be delivered to CONSOL (Appendix 5). (8) The University of Delaware submitted a paper on the resid reactivity work for presentation at the 213th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, April 13-17, 1997 in San Francisco, California. The paper, ''Kinetics of Hydroprocessing of Coal-Derived Vacuum Resids'', is appended (Appendix 6)
Hydrogen sulphide poisoning of shallow seas following the end-Triassic extinction
The evolution of complex life over the past 600 million years was disrupted by at least five mass extinctions, one of which occurred at the close of the Triassic period. The end-Triassic extinction corresponds to a period of high atmospheric-CO2 concentrations caused by massive volcanism and biomass burning; most extinction scenarios invoke the resulting environmental perturbations in accounting for the loss of marine and terrestrial biodiversity. Here we reconstruct changes in Tethyan shallow marine ecosystems and ocean redox chemistry from earliest Jurassic (Hettangian)-aged black shales from Germany and Luxemburg. The shales contain increased concentrations of the biomarker isorenieratane, a fossilized pigment from green sulphur bacteria. The abundance of green sulphur bacteria suggests that the photic zone underwent prolonged periods of high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide. This interval is also marked by the proliferation of green algae, an indicator of anoxia. We conclude that the redox changes in the entire water column reflect sluggish circulation in marginal regions of the Tethys Ocean. We suggest that the resultant repeated poisoning of shallow epicontinental seas-hotspots of Mesozoic biodiversity-with hydrogen sulphide may have slowed the recovery of marine ecosystems during the Early Jurassic
Palynology of Triassic–Jurassic boundary sections in northern Switzerland
A first palynostratigraphic scheme of Upper Triassic deposits in northern Switzerland was established based on spore-pollen associations and dinoflagellate cyst records from the upper part of the Upper Triassic Klettgau Formation and the lower part of the Lower Jurassic Staffelegg Formation. Drill cores from the Adlerberg region (Basel Tabular Jura) and from Weiach (northern part of Canton Zurich) as well as from an outcrop at the Chilchzimmersattel (Basel Folded Jura) were studied and five informal palynological associations are distinguished. These palynological associations correlate with palynological association of the Central European Epicontinental Basin and the Tethyan realm and provide a stratigraphic framework for the uppermost Triassic sediments in northern Switzerland. Throughout the uppermost Triassic to Jurassic palynological succession a remarkable prominence of Classopollis spp. is observed. Besides Classopollis spp. the three Rhaetian palynological associations A to C from the Upper Triassic Belchen Member include typical Rhaetian spore-pollen and dinoflagellate taxa (e.g., Rhaetipollis germanicus, Geopollis zwolinskae, Rhaetogonyaulax rhaetica, and Dapcodinium priscum). Association B differs from association A in a higher relative abundance of the sporomorph taxa Perinopollenites spp. and the consistent occurrence of Granuloperculatipollis rudis and Ricciisporites tuberculatus. Spore diversity is highest in the late Rhaetian palynological association C and includes Polypodiisporites polymicroforatus. A Rhaetian age for the Belchen Member is confirmed by palynological associations A–C, but there is no record of the latest Rhaetian and the earliest Jurassic. In contrast to the Rhaetian palynological associations the Early Jurassic associations W and D include Pinuspollenites spp., Trachysporites fuscus (in association W), and Ischyosporites variegatus. In the view of the end-Triassic mass extinction and contemporaneous environmental changes the described palynofloral succession represents the pre-extinction phase (associations A and B) including a distinct transgression, the extinction phase (association C) associated with a regression, and the post-extinction phase (association W)