Effect of Reactor Pressure on Coal Tar Hydrocracking

Abstract

Coal gasificationproduce tar as a side-product. Coal tar is a complex mixture, and consists of various functional groups mainly polyaromatic compounds. Due to its chemical composition, coal tar is categorized as hazardous material. The physical and chemical properties of coal tar is similar to crude oil, but it has higher polyaromatics and impurities. Those problems are the main challenges of processing coal tar into fuel. Therefore, an upgrading process is required This paper discussed upgrading coal tar into fuel by hydrocracking in an autoclave reactor using catalyst of nickel-molybdenum with alumina-silica support. Effect of reactor pressure was observed Hydrocracking product at 450°C and 120bar showed the best result where the HIC molar ratio increased 26% and the specijic gravity decreased 19%. The impurities of sulphur and nitrogen decreased 88,5% and 72% respectively. Hydrocracking productwas distilled using a simulated distillation by gas chromatography. Based on simulated distillation analysis, the product could be fractionated into 2,2%vol of light end, 65 33.8%vol of naphtha, and 48%vol of middle distillate. These results showed that coal tar is potential to be processed into fuel. Furthermore, the utilization of coal tar can be a solution of waste treatment as well