Effect of Drying Conditions on Moisture Re-Adsorption Performance of Dewatered Lignite

In order to improve the drying efficiency of lignite and restrain the moisture re-adsorption of dewatered coal, the drying characteristics of typical Chinese lignite, the re-adsorption performances of dewatered samples and the change in pore structure throughout the entire processes were investigated in this study. Lignite samples with four different particle size fractions were dried in a fixed-bed reactor in the temperature range 60–160°C. The re-adsorbing moisture behaviors of dewatered coal samples containing different water contents were investigated at temperatures of 20–40°C and humidities of 55–95%. The changes in the pore structure of raw coal and different dried samples were measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and the relations between their re-adsorption performance and change in pore structure were explored. The moisture removal yields of lignite increased with an increase in drying time and temperature and was close to 100% above 120°C and over 100% after holding 40 and 15 min at temperatures of 140 and 160°C due to the release of CO₂ from the decomposing carboxyl group in the coal matrix. The re-adsorbed moisture content in dewatered coal was influenced by drying temperature and coal particle size through varying pore structure. The temperature and relative humidity in the re-adsorbing process were the main factors that influenced the moisture re-adsorption capacity of dewatered lignite, in which the re-adsorbing temperature mainly operated by varying the bonding ability of water on the surface of dewatered coal, and the relative humidity was connected with the pore structure as well. The mesopore was the main factor that influenced the re-adsorption of dewatered coal and the re-adsorption of moisture in dewatered coal at 100°C was highest due to the narrow range of the pore radius and because the relative volume ratio of 5 to 50 nm mesopore (above 91%) was high. The water loss yield of lignite with smaller particle size was higher due to its larger pore volume and surface area, but its re-adsorption capacity was lower because of lower volume ratio of 5 to 50 nm mesopore volume in dewatered coal obtained from the smaller size lignite.