Relative catalytic activity of iron containing minerals for the hydrogasification of coal

Investigation of the catalytic activity of several iron compounds on hydrogasification of coal showed that catalytic activity is dependent on the particular iron compound with the following order observed: Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ > Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ > FeSO/sub 4/ > FeS/sub 2/ > FeO > Fe. In this paper results of two series of experiments performed to aid in interpreting this dependence of reduced iron catalytic activity on precursor species are described. The assumption was made that the role of reduced iron in catalzing hydrogasification is dissociation of H/sub 2/. Also, there was evidence that catalysts affected gasification by physical interaction with the coal. Hydrogen transfer activity of the reduced iron state for six iron containing minerals were measured. Each mineral resulted in a different active site density. The nitrogen BET surface area and total pore volume on coal char samples with added iron containing minerals were measured. Again, each mineral affected the physical structure of the char differently. The investigators concluded that the catalytic activity of iron containing minerals for the hydrogasification of coal is related both to the hydrogen transfer active site density in the reduced iron state of each mineral and to the physical effect each mineralmore » has on increasing surface area and pore volume of the devolatized coal char.« less