Difference in chemical composition of supercritical methanolysis products between two lignites

Dehydrated Xilinhaote lignite (XL) and Huolinguole lignite (HL) were depolymerized in supercritical methanol at 310 °C and the resulting soluble reaction mixtures were analyzed with GC/MS. The results show that the GC/MS-detectable species can be classified into hydroxybenzenes (HBs), esters, ketones, alkanols, arenes, methoxybenzene, alkanes, alkenes, nitrogen-containing organic compounds, sulfur-containing organic compounds, aldehydes and other compounds. However, the difference in the product yield from different coals is significant. The most abundant products are HBs from XL and esters from HL.

► We investigated the difference of liquid products from two Chinese lignites.
► One hundred and eighty-five compounds were detected with GC/MS.
► The difference in coal matrix leads to the different liquid products.
► Hydroxybenzenes and esters are the most abundant components for both lignites.