Key Laboratory of Coal Gasification of Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China

Effect of alkali metal K on the hydrogasification of lignite was studied in a pressurized fixed-bed reactor, and the effects of temperature, pressure and catalyst loading on the reactivity of hydrogasification of lignite coal were examined. The experimental results show that the alkali metal K has a superior catalysis on the hydrogasification of lignite, and the carbon conversion of hydrogasification and the methane content in gaseous products can be up to 95% and 89%, respectively. The gasification reactivity can be enhanced obviously by increasing temperature, pressure and catalyst loading, and the catalyst loading saturation level is about 15%. The surface morphology and pore structure of coal samples with different catalyst loadings have been analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and gas adsorption/desorption analysis, which indicates that the specific surface areas and total pore volume decrease initially, and then increase with the increasing of catalyst loading.