COMPARISON OF COAL LIQUEFACTION CHARACTERISTICS IN A CONTINUOUS STIRRED TANK REACTOR WITH THAT IN A BATCH MICRO-AUTOCLAVE.

Liquefaction of coal by sufficient amount of tetralin was carried out in a 5,000 cm**3 continuous stirred tank reactor and a 27 cm**3 batch microautoclave at 673 K and 5. 4 MPa. The batch reactor was operated with different heating rates ranging from 4 K/min to 150 K/min so that the effects of the heating rate on the conversion of coal to benzene solubles could be evaluated. The residence time distribution of coal particles in the continuous reactor was also measured at room temperature. It is concluded that conversion in a continuous reactor can be predicted on the basis of kinetic data obtained in a batch reactor.