This award will support Dr. David M. Bodily of the University of Utah to conduct collaborative research for nine months with Dr. Yosuke Maekawa of the Government Industrial Development Laboratory, Hokkaido and Dr. Yoshiki Sato of the National Research Institute for Pollution and Resources in Tsukuba, Japan. They will investigate the action of metal sulfides and halides in catalyzing coal liquefaction. Combinations of hydrogenation and cracking catalysts under different conditions of temperature, pressure, concentration, donor solvent, and nature of the gas phase, will be studied as they affect the design of a real coal liquefaction plant in Japan. If coal liquefaction processes which operate at lower temperatures and pressures than are now possible were to be developed, the economic feasibility of using coal as an energy source would be greatly increased. The effectiveness of metal sulfides and halides in improving coal liquefaction without requiring the use of very high pressures or temperatures will be studied. In this work, the strong research groups in Hokkaido and Tsukuba will complement the experience of the Principal Investigator.
