ENHANCING CHAIN TRANSFER DURING COAL-LIQUEFACTION - A MODEL SYSTEM-ANALYSIS

The aggregation of coal liquefaction elementary steps into representative reaction families allowed further organization into the Rice-Herzfeld kinetic formalism. Solution of this model and subsequent imposition of the Evans-Polanyi structure-reactivity correlation revealed the attributes of an optimal chain-transfer solvent. In particular, the optimal chain-transfer solvent will have an intermediate C-H bond strength for catalysis of coal degradation chemistry. The results suggest a homogeneous analogue of the classical principle of Sabatier in heterogeneous catalysis.