Development, Status, and Prospects of Coal Tar Hydrogenation Technology

China is rich in coal resources, and the production of mid-to-low- temperature coal tar is increasing gradually. Due to containing more aliphatic hydrocarbons and less aromatic hydrocarbons, mid-to-low-temperature coal tar is suitable for hydrogenation to produce fuel oil. Domestic mid-to-low-temperature coal tar hydrogenation technologies are investigated here. All the technologies are divided into 6 steps, that is, coal tar hydrogenation technology of the light fraction, the delayed coking tar, the suspending-bed reactor, the fullrange, the extractive wide distillate, and the boiling-bed reactor. Focused on the technical features with a detailed analysis and comparison of different hydrogenation technologies, the main problems in the development of coal tar hydrogenation are described. The developments in process technology, coal tar refinement, and deep processing products will heavily influece the direction of coal tar hydrogenation in the future.