Composition of the Basic Nitrogen Compounds of Distillate Coal Liquids

The basic nitrogen compounds in the 300-600°F boiling range are predominately pyridines and quinolines for thermal liquefaction processes and are anilines for catalytic processing. The compounds are more numerous in the catalytic materials so that the specific compound identification has been made for only about 50% of the total basic nitrogen compound fraction whereas 75 to 85% of the individual compounds could be identified from samples generated by thermal processing. In comparing the amounts of compound classes from thermal or catalytic processing, it is concluded that nitrogen ring heterocycles (pyridines or quinolines) are primary products from coal dissolution and, by inference, these compound classes contain the basic nitrogen that is present in coals in the Illinois basin.