A method utilising the "hot-rod" reactor has been employed to study the hydropyrolysis characteristics of a selection of South African coals. The effects of various operating parameters involved in this process have been investigated such as coal type, particle size, temperature, heating rate, pressure, solid residence time and vapor residence time. This work has shown that the hydropyrolysis of local coals, under optimum reaction conditions, gave similar yields and product distributions to those obtained with the same reactor concept using Northern Hemisphere coals. This investigation has confirmed the detrimental effect of the agglomeration properties of bituminous coals, and methods have been suggested which may overcome this problem in future work involving a continuous reactor.
Reference:
Barrass, G. 1978. The hydropyrolysis (dry hydrogenation) of a selection of South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/13480 .
Barrass, G. (1978). The hydropyrolysis (dry hydrogenation) of a selection of South Africa Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10204/13480
Barrass, G The hydropyrolysis (dry hydrogenation) of a selection of South Africa. 1978. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/13480
Barrass G. The hydropyrolysis (dry hydrogenation) of a selection of South Africa. 1978 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10204/13480
Fuel Research Institute of South Africa (FRI) Collection The Fuel Research Institute of South Africa is the outcome of a movement which originated in the immediate post war years. The war period had emphasized the dependence of the modem State on adequate supplies of fuel and focused public attention on the need for conserving these supplies and utilizing them to the best advantage. It began to be more generally realized that the application of science to the fuel problem had resulted in the development of more economical methods of utilizing coal and in the recovery there from of valuable industrial raw materials; that the discovery or development of an internal source of liquid fuel or oil would be of immense advantage to the country; that the industrial and mining development of the Union was dependent on the development of cheap sources of energy; and that the Union's exportable coal resources were a means of bringing capital into the country.