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Production of organic acids in high yields from brown coals through the liquid phase oxidation with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} at low temperature

Conference ·
OSTI ID:370423

Brown coals are abundant fossil resources, but they have not been utilized in a large amount because of their low calorific values. Considering the molecular structure of brown coals which consist of small aromatic ring units and many functional groups, utilization methods reflecting the structure should be explored. From this viewpoint we have presented a new method to produce valuable chemicals from brown coals under mild conditions. Several brown coals were oxidized in 30%-H{sub 2}O{sub 2} aqueous solution at the temperature between 25 and 80{degrees}C under atmospheric pressure. When an Australian brown coal was oxidized for 24h at 60{degrees}C, 80 wt% of the coal was surprisingly converted to water soluble organics, 50 wt% of which were chemicals such as methanol, formic acid, acetic acid, glycolic acid, and malonic acid. We also examined the mechanism by which the organics are produced in light of the coal structure.

OSTI ID:
370423
Report Number(s):
CONF-960376--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English