: Catalytic gasification of raw coals at mild condition is not realized yet mainly due to deactivation of catalysts via their irreversible interaction with mineral matters in coal. In this work, the gasification behavior of ash-free coal (AFC) was compared with that of the parent raw coal. In order to modify the gasification conditions, the raw coal gasified with fixed variables (water supply, space velocity, temperature, catalysts) in a fixed bed reactor. When catalysts are added by physical mixing method with coal, K2CO3 was the most effective additives for steam gasification of coal. However, the activity of ash-free coal (AFC) was much less reactive than raw coal due to high temperature extraction in a 1-methylnaphthalene under 30bar at 370 ℃ for 1 h, almost removed oxygen functional groups, and increased carbonization. The addition of K2CO3 in AFC achieved higher conversion rate at low temperature (700 ℃). At that time, the molar ratio of gases (H2/CO and CO2/CO) was increased because of water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) by addition of catalysts. This shows that catalytic steam gasification of AFCs is achievable for economic improvement of gasification process at mild temperature.

This work describes the performance of direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) fueled by an ash-free coal. Carbon is typically originated from coal that is readily available and economical. However, employing coal in DCFC has been excluded, mainly due to its leftbehind ash after the cell reactions. In the study, carbonaceous ashfree component of coal was extracted using organic solvent, which was then evaluated as a DCFC fuel. An electrolyte-supported SOFC structure was adapted to build DCFC. When an ash-free coal was internally gasified to fuel gases, the power density was improved by more than 20%, compared to N 2 environment. Both an ash-free coal and its reformed gases were found to take part in the electrochemical reactions.