Thermolysis of biomass-related model compounds and its promotion on the thermal dissolution of coal

The thermolysis of biomass-related model compounds was carried out and its promotion on the thermal dissolution of coal was probed in this study. Benzyl phenyl ether was easily to pyrolyze than dibenzyl ether, and the thermolysis conversions of benzyl phenyl ether and dibenzyl ether were 98.3 and 32.4% at 360 °C respectively. The product analysis of the thermolysis suggests that the pyrolysis of the biomass-related model compounds follows the radical reaction route and some phenyl oxygen free radicals are formed in the process. Addition of 2% phenol could obviously increase the thermolysis conversion of dibenzyl ether, suggesting that the free radicals formed from phenol can promote the pyrolysis of dibenzyl ether. Addition of 10% benzyl phenyl ether could obviously promote the thermal dissolution of Shenfu sub-bituminous coal, and the thermal dissolution yield of Shenfu sub-bituminous coal could be increased by 20.8% at 360 °C. The enhancement of thermal dissolution of Shenfu coal by benzyl phenyl ether can be attributed to that the benzyloxy and phenoxy radicals formed from the thermolysis of benzyl phenyl ether attack the coal molecules, thus promoting the depolymerization of coal.