On the use of products of the organic matter extraction from coal as a component of fuels

Extraction of the coal organic mass under the influence of organic dissolvent is a method of conversing coal into liquid products. The need for the further development of this technology is associated with the need to search for alternative direct liquefaction and gasification technologies for obtaining alternative fuel products. The paper presents the analysis results of hydrocarbon fractions 112-400 °C, obtained by joint heat treatment of coal and catalytic cracking heavy gas oil according to some quality indicators of traditional fuels. In general, according to some indicators this product is close to boiler fuels. But aromatic hydrocarbons and olefins predominate in the extraction products if we take into account chemical structure. So, it requires their hydrogenation improving.

Study of Dependence of Softening Point on Mesophase Content of Petroleum Pitches from Heavy Pyrolysis Resin and Decantoil

Samples of petroleum pitches were obtained from heavy pyrolysis resin and decantoil (heavy gas-oil of catalytic cracking) by thermal polycondensation at atmospheric pressure, temperatures of 380–400 and 410–440°С (for resin and decantoil, respectively) and isothermal holding time of 30–480 min. Analysis of the dependence of the softening point on the mesophase content for the obtained samples showed that at the same mesophase content, decantoil pitches exhibit a lower softening point compared to pyrolysis resin pitches, for which, even at 30 % mesophase, the softening point approaches 300°C. This suggests that it is impossible to obtain pitch from pyrolysis resin with high mesophase content without preliminary preparation (for example, by hydrogenation). On the other hand, it has been shown that for pitches from decantoil, it is possible to isolate the mesophase up to 65% or more with a softening point not higher than 250°C.

Virgin Heavy Gas Oil from Oil Sands Bitumen as FCC Feed

This study deals with a systematic investigation of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) performance of a bitumen-derived virgin heavy gas oil (HGO) in the presence of its counterpart from bitumen-derived synthetic crude oil (SCO). The objective is to determine the amelioration effect on yield and product slate by the addition of the premium SCO HGO. The 343–525 °C cut virgin bitumen HGO was obtained from distillation of a raw Athabasca oil sands bitumen. It was then blended with different amounts of the 343 °C+ fraction of commercial SCO. Four HGO blends were prepared containing 75, 64, 61, and 48 v% of SCO HGO. Each HGO blend, as well as 100% SCO HGO, were catalytically cracked at 500 and 520 °C using a bench-scale Advanced Cracking Evaluation (ACE) unit. The results show acceptable FCC performance of bitumen virgin HGO when an adequate amount of SCO HGO is added. However, the resulting liquid product may need some quality improvement before use. Several observations, including catalyst poisoning by feed nitrogen and the refractory nature of virgin HGO, are evident and help to explain some observed cracking phenomena.