A process for pyrolyzing a coal feed is described. The coal feed is pyrolyzed into a coal tar stream and a coke stream in a pyrolysis zone. The coal tar stream is fractionated into at least a pitch stream. The pitch stream is hydrogenated, and the hydrogenated pitch stream is recycled into the pyrolysis zone. The hydrocarbon stream may be processed further by at least one of hydrotreating, hydrocracking, fluid catalytic cracking, alkylation, and transalkylation.