Abstract
Fe-cat and Ti-cat catalytic additives synthesized from converter slags of Qarmet JSC using acid activation followed by ex situ sulfidation were studied. By full-profile X-ray analysis, it was found that Fe-cat is mainly a sulphide system (FeS troilite + keilite, 52.8 wt% in total), while Ti-cat is mainly oxide (Mg(Ti2O5), 70.8 wt%). In model experiments for the hydrogenation of a mixture of phenanthrene and benzothiophene in the presence of polyethylene as a hydrogen donor, the catalytic additive Ti-cat provides preferential hydrogenation of aromatic structures (conversion of phenanthrene 47.2%), while Fe-cat is characterized by complete conversion of benzothiophene and high yield of cleavage products. During hydroconversion of the heavy fraction of primary coal tar, the yield of liquid products was 64.0% by weight, mainly in the form of a middle distillate fraction of 200–300 °C. The hydrogen balance showed that molecular hydrogen was in excess; an increase in the hydrogen content in liquid products (from 8.0 to 9.64 wt%) indicates the transfer of hydrogen from donors to the liquid phase. The optimum content of polyethylene is 1.0–1.5 wt%, providing maximum enrichment of liquid products with hydrogen (H/C = 1.53).