Title: Boron trifluoride etherate as a catalyst precursor for coliquefaction of coal and plastics at the mild conditions

Authors: Kun Du; Hong Wu; Yu Li; Lin Huang; Jianxin Zhang; Daoping Wang

Addresses: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Liu Pan Shui Normal University, Liupanshui, 553004, China ' Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Liu Pan Shui Normal University, Liupanshui, 553004, China ' Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Liu Pan Shui Normal University, Liupanshui, 553004, China ' Foreign Language and Literature Department, Liu Pan Shui Normal University, Liupanshui, 553004, China ' The Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products of Guizhou Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550009, China ' The Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products of Guizhou Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550009, China

Abstract: The objective of this work is the study of boron trifluoride etherate (C4H10BF3O, a kind of Lewis acid) as a catalyst to depolymerise coal. Coliquefaction of coal and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) using C4H10BF3O with different weight ratio of coal and LDPE were carried out at 370°C. The similar coliquefaction using C4H10BF3O at 200°C, and the similar coliquefaction using ammonium molybdate [(NH4)2MoO4] as catalyst at 370°C were performed for comparison. The result indicates that C4H10BF3O plays a significant role in depolymerisation of coal at 370°C other than 200°C, and oil yield increased approximately 30% when the temperature increased from 200°C to 370°C. The main reason is that coal has a deeper level of cracking at higher temperature. The hexane soluble, hexane insoluble-tetrahydrofuran (THF) soluble and residue organic parts after coliquefaction were analysed by molecular weight, FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR to get confirmatory results. [Received: April 29, 2013; Accepted: November 8, 2013]

Keywords: plastics; coliquefaction; Lewis acid; coal depolymerisation; boron trifluoride etherate; catalyst precursor; C4H10BF3O; low-density polyethylene; LDPE; ammonium molybdate; oil yield.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2015.070040

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2015 Vol.10 No.1, pp.77 - 93

Received: 03 May 2013
Accepted: 08 Nov 2013

Published online: 26 Jun 2015 *

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