A study of producing high-purity coal for coal chemical industry based on hydrophobic agglomerates

China heavily relies on foreign oil due to limited domestic resources. Oil shortages can be effectively alleviated through Indirect Coal Liquefaction (ICL), though its conversion efficiency is constrained by the coal’s ash content. Therefore, deep de-ashing of raw coal is vital for coal pyrolysis gasification. In this study, the methods for preparing high-purity coal and its impact on coal-to-oil conversion were investigated. When the stirring speed of the hydrophobic agglomerates reached 1800 r/min, the dosage of kerosene was 3 kg/t, and the dosage of methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) and starch was increased to 300 g/t, high-purity coal with an ash content of 1.87% was successfully produced. The gangue mineral (including calcite, quartz and pyrite) removal was 69%. Compared to coal before de-ashing (with an ash content of 6.22%), the carbon conversion rate of high-purity coal in the pyrolysis gasification process increased by 2.28%, the relative CO content increased by 4.49%, and the relative CO2 content decreased by 3.69%, achieving a reduction in CO2 emissions. This is great significance in realizing the double control of carbon emission intensity and total emission.