ROLE OF OXYGEN FUNCTIONAL GROUPS IN THE MECHANISMS OF COAL LIQUEFACTION.

Results of an experimental study are presented and evaluated by using simple equations. It is shown that the amounts of ether oxygen being cleaved during the coal liquefaction process are not larger than 3. 0 plus or minus 0. 3 ether oxygen linkages per 100 initial carbon atoms in teh coal studied, and loss of ″unaccounted″ oxygen, assumed to be principally ether, increases linearly with conversion, as measured by pyridine solubility. Blocking of hydroxyl oxygen with trimethylsilyl groups results in an increase in the benzene solubilities of pyridine-soluble materials. However, comparison of the rates of increase when hydroxyl groups are blocked with the rates when hydroxyl groups are removed during liquefaction leads to the inference that during liquefaction no more than 40% of benzene-soluble materials are generated from benzene-insoluble, pyridine-soluble materials by the mechanism of hydrogenolysis of oxygen functional groups. The reported investigation was restricted to the study of interactions between coal and tetralin.