Direct coal liquefaction residue (DCLR) contains a significant fraction of heavy liquids. Better use of DCLR is an important task to overall economy of direct coal liquefaction. This paper studies hydro-treatment of a DCLR and its solvent-extraction components under typical direct coal liquefaction conditions. The DCLR is found hydro-treatable, resulting in more light products and less heavy products. In one case, 40 wt% heavy fractions in the DCLR are converted into light fractions. Hexane soluble fraction (HS) is the most stable while pre-asphaltene fraction (PA) is the most active during the hydro-treatment. Some synergetic effect can be observed when DCLR is treated as whole. The fractions of DCLR, before and after the hydro-treatment, are subjected to FTIR and NMR analyses, which show increase in hydrogen content and decrease in oxygen content in HS fractions after the hydro-treatment. GPC analysis reveals that the hydro-treatment results in slight decreases in molecular weight of HS fraction. The data seem to suggest that separation and hydro-treatment of liquid fractions from a DCLR is a viable option for high oil yield. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.