Supercritical fluid extraction of two Indian coals

Results on the supercritical fluid extraction of two Indian coals (Ranigunj and Godavari Valley Coal fields) are reported using toluene as solvent. The effect of extraction time on supercritical toluene dissolution of these coals was studied in a tubular reactor, in a semi-continuous mode operating at constant operating conditions of 673 K and 9.8 MPa. Coal conversions in the range of 18–21% and the oil contents of the extracts varying from 40 to 75% were obtained.     

Genesis of micrinite in some Australian coals

Seven Australian coals have been examined petrographically and two types of micrinite, disseminated micrinite and cavity-filling micrinite, are described. The disseminated micrinite appears to be very fine fragments of fusinite, semifusinite and other low reflectance inertinite. Cavity-filling micrinite occurs only in inertinite-rich coal seams and was formed under aerobic conditions. It is considered that porigelinite and other granular material in peat are the major progenitors of the cavity-filling micrinite. Such progenitors would have entered cell cavities and other voids, possibly as a water slurry, before or after they had been partially oxidized.     

Mineral matter identification in some Pakistani coals

Extractions of some of the inorganic elements from Pakistani coal samples were made with ammonium acetate, HCl, HNO₃, and acid mixture. The various extracts and the residues were analyzed for the inorganic elements like Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Ca, Mg, K and Na. Even though ammonium acetate and acids extracted a considerable amount of inorganic elements, complete demineralization was not achieved. These elements are present both in the form of ion exchangeable cations (extractable with ammonium acetate) and as part of discrete-mineral particles (extractable with acids).     

Distribution of potentially hazardous trace elements in coals from Shanxi province, China

Shanxi province, located in the center of China, is the biggest coal base of China. There are five coal-forming periods in Shanxi province: Late Carboniferous (Taiyuan Formation), Early Permian (Shanxi Formation), Middle Jurassic (Datong Formation), Tertiary (Taxigou Formation), and Quaternary. Hundred and ten coal samples and a peat sample from Shanxi province were collected and the contents of 20 potentially hazardous trace elements (PHTEs) (As, B, Ba, Cd, Cl, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Th, U, V and Zn) in these samples were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry, cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry, ion chromatography spectrometry, and wet chemical analysis. The result shows that the brown coals are enriched in As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, F and Zn compared with the bituminous coals and anthracite, whereas the bituminous coals are enriched in B, Cl, Hg, and the anthracite is enriched in Cl, Hg, U and V. A comparison with world averages and crustal abundances (Clarke values) shows that the Quaternary peat is highly enriched in As and Mo, Tertiary brown coals are highly enriched in Cd, Middle Jurassic coals, Early Permian coals and Late Carboniferous coals are enriched in Hg. According to the coal ranks, the bituminous coals are highly enriched in Hg, whereas Cd, F and Th show low enrichments, and the anthracite is also highly enriched in Hg and low enrichment in Th. The concentrations of Cd, F, Hg and Th in Shanxi coals are more than world arithmetic means of concentrations for the corresponding elements. Comparing with the United States coals, Shanxi coals show higher concentrations of Cd, Hg, Pb, Se and Th. Most of Shanxi coals contain lower concentrations of PHTEs.     

Fluidized-bed gasification of some Western Canadian coals

Three Western Canadian coals were gasified with air and steam in a fluidized bed of 0.73 mm sand and coal, at atmospheric pressure and temperatures of 1023–1175K to produce a low-calorific-value gas. One non-caking and two caking coals were tested. The effects of temperature, coal feed rate, $\text{air}\text{coal}$ ratio, $\text{steam}\text{coal}$ ratio, coal quality, coal particle size and bed depth on gas composition, gas calorific value and operating stability of the gasifier were established. Results are compared with those previously obtained for the same three coals when gasified in essentially the same equipment, but operated as a spouted bed.     

Oxidation of some bulgarian coals. Influence of low-temperature oxidation on the microhardness and reflectivity of some brown coals

Experiments carried out with two clarain and three vitrain samples from the Bobovdol basin and two clarain samples from the Pirin basin have shown that changes in microhardness and random reflectance are useful indications of changes which occur in the coal substance during oxidation processes at 150 and 200 °C and subsequent extraction.     

Prediction of unburnt carbon in tangentially fired boiler using Indian coals

Accurate prediction of percentage unburnt carbon in fly ash in the case of high ash content Indian coal, at the design stage, is generally difficult. In the present paper, a large number of laboratory test data and site data are used to understand the mechanism of unburnt carbon in fly ash as well as in bottom ash. Rigorous statistical analysis of the performance data taken from tangentially fired boilers shows that empirical correlation between a combination of coal properties and percentage unburnt carbon in fly ash exist. Equations to predict percentage unburnt carbon in fly ash and bottom ash have been proposed.     

Investigation of the flash pyrolysis of some coals

Five bituminous coals, an anthracite and a lignite have been flash-pyrolysed by the electrically-heated grid technique or by means of an electrically-heated fluidized-bed. In the experiments using a heated grid, data were obtained on rates of rapid devolatilization and on the composition of the gases and tars evolved with heating rates up to 3000 Ks^?1 and peak temperatures up to 1400 K. Similar, but more limited data were obtained using the fluidized-bed system. Mathematical models based on overall single- or two-reaction pathways were compared with the experimental results. Good agreement could be achieved by the latter with activation energies of 16 and 35 kJ mol^?1.     

Supercritical fluid extraction of hazardous metals from CCA wood

Contamination of the environment by waste CCA (Cu, Cr, As) wood, containing the toxic heavy metals, copper, chromium, and arsenic that are hazardous to human health, can be significantly reduced by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technology. An environmentally benign solution for the detoxification of these CCA woods is the use of SFE technology for the treatment because no extra pollutant is added. In this work, we studied SFE of Cu, Cr, and As from CCA wood by using supercritical CO₂ modified with chelating agents. Effects of pressure and temperature on the extraction efficiency for the heavy metals were studied with organophosphorous chelating agent, Cyanex 302. Some other chelating agents were also compared. Cyanex 302 was the best ligand in our experiments at pressure of 24 MPa and temperature of 333 K. The extraction efficiencies for Cu, Cr, and As were up to 63.5, 28.6, and 31.3%, respectively.     

Cleaning of Indian coals by agglomeration with xylene and hexane

A laboratory scale agglomeration process has been undertaken for cleaning Indian coals using oils namely, xylene and hexane. Maximum organic matter recovery for xylene has been found to be 91.9% whereas with hexane, the value is 54.7% on a dry basis. The highest ash rejection values with xylene (90.7%) and with hexane (89.7%) are almost same. Promising results for rejection of metals (Fe, Mg and Zn) have been observed. It has been found that xylene is more selective than hexane for the agglomeration process. Knowledge gained from this study will be helpful for technological advancement of this kind of work.     

Occurrence,abundance and origin of minerals in coals and coal ashes

The mineralogy of coal and coal ash samples from a wide variety of deposits worldwide has been studied by X-ray diffractometry, light microscopy, SEM, TEM, and DTA-TGA methods. The common major minerals identified in the crystalline matter of coals are quartz, kaolinite, illite, calcite, pyrite, plagioclase, K-feldspar and gypsum, and occasionally dolomite, ankerite, siderite, Fe oxyhydroxides and sulphates. A number of minor and especially accessory minerals are also present. The modes of occurrence and some genetic peculiarities of the minerals found are described and summarized. Minerals and phases of probable detrital origin include mainly silicates, volcanic glass, oxyhydroxides and phosphates. Authigenic minerals of syngenetic origin may be sulphides, clay minerals, carbonates and rarely sulphates and phosphates. Epigenetic minerals, formed by the infiltration of low-temperature hydrothermal solutions, may include sulphides, carbonates, sulphates, clay minerals, quartz, chlorides, and probably alkaline-earth hydroxides and zeolites. The alteration products of detrital and authigenic minerals may be Fe and Al oxyhydroxides, sulphates, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, muscovite, zeolites and calcite. The behaviour of these minerals and phases during low- and high-temperature ashing is also discussed.     

Electron spin resonance studies of some Canadian coals

Nine Canadian coals of different rank and composition were studied by electron spin resonance. For percentage of fixed carbon in the range of 43 to 78 wt%, the free radical g values were found to increase with decreasing carbon content, and did not level off for the low rank coals. The free radical linewidths are attributed to atomic species such as oxygen and not to protons of hydrogen.     

Solubilisation of some bituminous coals in quinoline by ultrasonic irradiation

The solubilisation of 4 hvab and 1 hvbb coals by ultrasonic irradiation of coal-quinoline systems at ambient temperature was investigated. The amount of coal solvated was found to be a function of time and particle size. The use of a char prepared at the temperature of maximum coal fluidity increased the amount of material solubilised. There was little difference in the amounts of coal solubilised at 36° and 80°. There was a decrease in the sulphur and ash content of the solubilised coal compared with the starting coal. Quinoline can be re-used as a solvent with no decrease in solubilisation efficiency. Based on high-resolution mass spectrometric and infra-red spectroscopic investigations and particle size measurements of the solubilised material, it appears that the increased solubilisation of coal in quinoline results from a grinding action and not a chemical action.     

Composition and properties of coals from some deposits in Mongolia

Nine coal samples from different deposits in Mongolia were studied with the use of a set of chemical and physicochemical methods of analysis (proximate and ultimate analyses, low-temperature extraction, the chemical analysis of ashes, thermogravimetric analysis, IR spectroscopy, and thermal dissolution) for evaluating their composition and chemical-engineering properties.     

Qualitative characteristics of power-generating coals from some deposits in Mongolia

The results of a study of the chemical composition and technological properties of coals from the Khar Tarvagatai, Nuurst Khotgor, and Khushuut deposits are presented in this article.     

Capture of volatile hazardous metals using a bed of kaolinite

One of the promising technologies for reducing metals emission from the waste thermal process is the capture of vapor-phase metals through the use of solid sorbents. This study investigated the use of natural kaolinite for the removal of several volatile metals. The capture of cadmium and lead using a packed bed with porous kaolinite of the size range 300-400 Μm was effective. The capturing efficiency increased as the bed temperature increased. The ratio of the sorption reaction rate to the diffusion rate varied on the 10^-2 order of magnitude. This suggests that the resistance of the diffusion within the pores of kaolinite particles is not significant in the selection of sorbent particle size for practice. The capturing mechanism for cadmium chloride is different from that for lead chloride. Cadmium can be reactively scavenged by CdO-Al₂O₃-2SiO₂ as well as metakaolinite, suggesting that a unit mole of metakaolinite can ultimately capture two moles of cadmium.     

Comparative chemical and mineral characterization of some Bulgarian coals

The mineralogy and chemical composition of lignitic, subbituminous and bituminous coal and coal-ash samples from six Bulgarian deposits, namely Maritza West (MW), Sofia (S), Maritza East (ME), Bobov Dol (BD), Pernik (P) and Balkan (B), were studied and a model for comparative characterization of their composition was done. Major minerals identified in the crystalline matter of Bulgarian coals are commonly quartz, kaolinite, illite, calcite, pyrite, plagioclase, K-feldspar and gypsum and occasionally dolomite, siderite, Fe oxyhydroxides and Fe sulphates. Some genetic features of the inorganic matter in coal and coal ash are described and compared. The coals studied show high detrital (P, B, BD, ME) or high authigenic (S, MW) mineral abundance with sulphide–sulphate (P, BD, ME, MW) or mixed carbonate and sulphide–sulphate (B, S) authigenic mineral tendencies. The high-temperature ashes of these coals belong to sialic (P), sialoferricalcic (B, BD), sialoferric (ME) or ferricalsialic (MW, S) chemical types. They have high (B, P, BD) or low (ME, MW, S) silicate mineral abundance with sulphate (B, P, ME, MW, S) or oxyhydroxide (BD) mineral tendencies.     

部分进口煤炭中氟元素的含量特征及赋存形态

为加强对进口高氟煤炭的管理,评价进口煤炭中氟元素的环境迁入风险,采用高温燃烧水解-氟离子选择电极法对唐山港口岸进口的225批煤炭中的氟含量进行了测定;用稳健统计描述了其整体含量水平,并根据我国煤炭行业分级标准及富集比进行了质量评价;用相关分析对氟的赋存形态进行了分析。结果表明:唐山港口进口煤炭中的氟含量可描述为(137±24)mg/kg;按我国煤炭行业标准进行质量分级评价,唐山港口进口的68%的朝鲜煤、62%的加拿大煤属于中氟煤,氟含量算术平均值高于中国煤、世界煤,其迁入风险值得关注;进口朝鲜煤中氟含量与灰分、全硫含量呈中度正相关、与磷含量呈微弱正相关,推断氟的赋存形态主要为无机硫结合态(硫化物和硫酸盐)和黏土矿物,少部分可能存在于磷酸盐类矿物及有机硫结合态中;进口澳大利亚煤中氟含量与灰分、全硫含量相关性不显著,与磷含量呈低度正相关,推断氟的赋存形态比较复杂,可能部分以磷酸盐结合态存在,赋存于氟磷灰石、磷铝钙石中;进口加拿大煤中氟含量与灰分、全硫含量相关性不显著,与磷含量的相关性系数为0.763,显著性水平为0.01,表明二者呈高度正相关,具有显著性,说明二者有很强的伴生关系,推断氟主要以磷酸盐结合态存在,赋存于氟磷灰石、磷铝钙石中。