Co-alcoholysis of white pine sawdust and Shenmu sub-bituminous coal in sub- and supercritical ethanol

The effects of experimental conditions including solvent type, reaction temperature, holding time, blending ratio of white pine sawdust (WPS) and Shenmu sub-bituminous coal (SSC), and initial nitrogen pressure on the co-alcoholysis behavior of WPS and SSC were investigated in an autoclave reactor. The results showed that the synergic effect between WPS and SSC had few influence on the conversion, while increased the yield of liquid product, i.e. soluble portion (SP) in ethanol, and decreased the yield of gas. The optimal operating conditions for SP yield were reaction temperature of 300 degrees C, holding time of 15 min, blending ratio of 1:1, and initial nitrogen pressure of 1 MPa, which gave the SP yield of 15.14%. FTIR and GC/MS analyses showed that the compounds in the SP from the co-alcoholysis of WPS and SSC were similar with those in SPwps, and were dominated with phenols and ketones, while the compounds in SPssc were mainly composed of arenes, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and pheonls. (C) 2017 Energy Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.