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Published: 1983

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This program was initiated to investigate the storage stability of syncrudes derived from coal and oil shale, and upgraded syncrudes, by procedures utilized for petroleum-derived fuels. Initially, the syncrudes were placed in storage at 43°C. After 4, 8, 16 and 24 weeks, aliquots were removed from storage for analysis of filterable precipitates, adherent gum, and soluble gum. Due to the high viscosity and boiling range of many of the syncrudes, special techniques were utilized to filter some of these samples for their measurements, which included heat and pressure. Investigation of other techniques for development of a test protocol that would successfully differentiate between various degrees of storage stability of syncrudes became a second objective of this program. To this end, solvent separations, accelerated stability tests at 80°C, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were investigated. Results of this work indicate that for the particular samples studied, the shale syncrudes are more stable than coal-derived syncrudes, and hydrotreatment of the shale syncrudes for upgrading tends to improve their stability. Thermal analysis by SC and/or TGA appears to show promise in evaluating syncrude stability, although finalized standard procedures still need to be developed. 10 references, 18 figures, 29 tables.