Investigation of liquefaction opportunities of Elbistan lignite, peat and biomass

Elbistan lignite is used in Afsin-Elbistan thermal power plant as a fuel due to its low calorific value, high ash content and moisture. However, the lignite should not be burnt directly because it causes environmental pollution. While providing the demand for energy which is rising depending on industrialization, the environment should be protected as well. Therefore, recently several researches have been done to produce clean energy from coal and biomass and their mixture by pyrolysis, gasification, liquefaction process. In this thesis, liquefaction and co-liquefaction potential of Elbistan lignite, Adıyaman-Celikhan Peat and Balikesir olive bagasse were investigated using direct coal liquefaction process. In the experimental section, the effect of particle size, the mixture type (lignite:peat and lignite: olive bagasse) and ratio on the yield and chemical structure of liquefaction products, which are char, asphaltenes, preasphaltenes, oil and gas, were investigated in detail. The yield of the liquefaction products were calculated by mass balance and their characterization studies were done using XRD, FTIR, DTA/TG, SEM, elemental and proximate analysis, calorimeter and GC/MS analysis. In addition, the chemical structure and morphologies of the starting materials were made applying the same methods. The results showed that the selected particle size of the starting materials did not affect the chemical structure and the yield of the products. The oil yield increased in order of lignite, peat and olive baggasse. DTA and TG results indicated the synergistic effect of the lignite and the biomass and the highest oil ratio were obtained with co-liquefaction of lignite-biomass mixture. KEYWORDS: Elbistan lignite, Peat, Olive Baggasse, Co-Liquefaction