Preparation of α-olefins Through the Steam Cracking Process of Wax From Coal Liquefaction.

The preparation of α-olefins through steam cracking of wax from coal liquefaction was studied in this paper. Compare to the 54# petroleum wax having a highest α-olefin yield per pass of 21.9%, which is the widely used feed in the commercial α-olefin plants, the α-olefin yield per pass of coal wax was increased by 10.7% at the similar reaction conditions. This paper disclosed the different reaction performances from the viewpoints of feed composition and reaction network. The effects of the cracking temperature, the residence time, and the steam ratio on the product distributions of steam cracking were investigated. The conversion per pass of coal wax was 71.0%, and the α-olefin yield per pass was 34.7% at the optimal reaction conditions, in which the cracking temperature, the residence time and the steam ratio were 660°C, 3.7 sec, and 16%. The selectivity of α-olefins was 48.9%. The productivity can be evidently improved if using coal wax as feedstocks instead of petroleum wax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]