390 u00b0 to about 425 u00b0 c and a hydrogen pressure of about 2000 pounds per square inch gauge 13 785 kpa for one hour the reaction product was passed to a phase separator to remove vapors therefrom the liquid was sent to a fractionation column wherein a naphtha fraction having a boiling range of about 71 u00b0 to about 177 u00b0 c was removed overhead the bottoms from this fractionator was sent to a centrifuge wherein solids constituting mainly unreacted coal and ash were removed therefrom the liquids from the centrifuge were then sent to a vacuum distillation tower wherein an overhead cut boiling up to a temperature of about 260 u00b0 c was recovered a portion of this latter cut was used as the slurring medium for the hydrogenation described above another portion of the overhead cut defined above was distilled at atmospheric pressure to obtain a cut boiling from 186 u00b0 to 208 u00b0 c and is the hydrocarbon mixture subjected to extraction in the following runs the hydrocarbon mixture was found to have the following analysis table i______________________________________component weight percent______________________________________neutrals 53 92 6 xylenol 0 2nitrogen containing compounds 0 4ortho cresol 6 1phenol ortho cresol ethyl phenol 6 72 5 xylenol para cresol 12 0meta cresol 20 1heavy components 0 6______________________________________ neutrals are hydrocarbons predominantly.