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.