Evaluation of catalytic deoxygenation of soluble species from a coal using mass spectrometers.

A low-rank coal was subjected to deoxygenation using NiO/Mo2O3-ZSM-5 as the catalyst and ethanol as the solvent under pressurized hydrogen circumstance to acquire a catalytic product (CP). Another parallel reaction was repeated with the same procedure but with nitrogen circumstance and without the catalyst to obtain a non-catalytic product (NCP). Both CP and NCP were analyzed with a Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, a gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) and an Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Orbitrap MS) to understand the deoxygenation features of low-rank coal. Low polar and molecular mass compounds were detected in NCP and CP using GC/MS. Compared with GC/MS, more species and high polarity were identified in NCP and CP by Orbitrap MS. The three analytical techniques indicated the effective oxygen removal during the catalytic treatment and provide a comprehensive evaluation of the deoxygenation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]