Effects of Pore Size Distribution on the Catalytic Performance for Coal Liquefaction. I. The Activity and Selectivity of the Catalyst

Coal liquefaction experiments were carried out by using seven catalysts with different pore structures. As for the unimodal catalysts, the total conversion increased with the pore radius of the catalyst because of the lesser pore-diffusional limitation. However, the ratio of oil to oil-plus-asphaltene decreased with the pore radius. In the case of a large-pore catalyst, heavy components with a large molecular size and a low reactivity can approach the intra-particle active sites and occupy them to prevent the hydrocracking of asphaltene to oil. Bimodal catalysts with micropores (r 300 nm) gave higher values of both the coal liquefaction and the oil yields than did the unimodal catalysts. The presence of macropores seems to enhance the pore diffusion and increase the efficiency of the micropore use, while mesopores with radii between 10 nm and 300 nm did not make such a high contribution to the pore diffusion as was shown for the macropores. For the removal of heteroatoms, there wa...