IN-SITU FOURIER TRANSFORM-INFRARED DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES FORCOAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESSES

FOR THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF COAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESSES, ON-LINE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES ARE NEEDED THAT ALLOW ONE TO "SEE" INSIDE THE VARIOUS PROCESS STAGES AND MONITOR PARAMETERS SUCH AS CATALYST ACTIVITY, UPGRADING OF LIQUIDS, DEPLETION OF SOLVENT, HETEROATOM REMOVAL, ETC. THIS PROJECT IS BASED ON TWO INNOVATIONS. THE FIRST IS THE APPLICATION OF FOURIER TRANSFORM-INFRARED (FT-IR) DIAGNOSTICS TO THE CHARACTERIZATION OF COAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESS STREAMS. THE MID-IR WAVELENGTHS (1 TO 20 MUM) CONTAIN A WEALTH OF INFORMATION ABOUT CHEMICAL BONDS AND TEMPERATURE. THE SECOND INNOVATION IS THE USE OF FIBER-OPTIC (F-O) ATTENUATED TOTAL REFLECTANCE (ATR) SPECTROSCOPY. THE USE OF FIBER OPTICS ALLOWS THE TRANSMISSION OF THE IR LIGHT THROUGH A PROCESS STREAM UNDER DIFFICULT OPERATING CONDITIONS (HIGH TEMPERATURE AND HIGH PRESSURE). ATR SPECTROSCOPY MAKES THE ANALYSES OF HIGHLY ABSORBING MATERIALS, SUCH AS LIQUID HYDROCARBON STREAMS, POSSIBLE BY PROVIDING A REPRODUCIBLE, SHORT PATH LENGTH. THE PHASE I WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE AN FT-IR/F-O/ATR SPECTROSCOPY SYSTEM FOR ON-LINE MONITORING OF COAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESS STREAMS. THE WORK INCLUDES FOUR INDIVIDUAL TASKS: (1) DESIGN OF A TEST CELL WITH AN F-O/ATR ELEMENT FOR THE LIQUID PHASE; (2) DEMONSTRATION OF THE TEST CELL TO OBTAIN QUANTITATIVE FT-IR REFERENCE SPECTRA FOR VARIOUS COMPOUNDS; (3) EXPERIMENTS UNDER COAL LIQUEFACTION REACTOR CONDITIONS; AND (4) ASSESSMENT OF THE WILSONVILLE, AL, PROCESS DEVELOPMENT UNIT (PDU) FOR ON-LINE MONITORING. THE PHASE II EFFORT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THIS TECHNOLOGY IN A CONTINUOUS FLOW SYSTEM AT A SELECTED LOCATION AT THE WILSONVILLE PDU AND WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING REMAINING RESEARCH ISSUES: (1) THE APPROPRIATE SENSING ELEMENT TO GO INSIDE THE REACTOR; (2) THE BEST METHOD OF DEALING WITH PROBLEMS SUCH AS EROSION AND DEPOSIT FORMATION; (3) WAYS TO CARRY THE SIGNAL TO A REMOTE LOCATION; AND (4) THE POSSIBILITY FROM A TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC STANDPOINT OF MULTIPLEXING (MEASUREMENT AT MORE THAN ONE LOCATION WITH THESAME INSTRUMENT).