Structural analysis of tars from fluidized bed pyrolysis of coal:: 2. 1H n.m.r. and i.r. spectroscopy

¹H n.m.r. and i.r. spectroscopy of aromatic and polar fractions of two tars from the rapid pyrolysis of coal in a fluidized bed at 550 °C show that the nature of the products depends on the reactivity of the pyrolysis gas. In the presence of flue gas, there is more thermolysis leading to shorter and fewer alkyl side chains and generation of lower molecular mass material. Pyrolysis by means of char gasification gas results in much less thermolysis of the tar but leads to secondary reactions which can be interpreted by a radical mechanism involving the reactive constituents of the char gas.