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Rapid determination of nitrogen in coal

Conference · · Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Gas Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5651982
A simple and rapid colorimetric method for the determination of total nitrogen in coal has been developed. The method is based on the rapid digestion of the coal sample with a mixture of 50% hydrogen peroxide plus concentrated sulfuric acid and subsequent color development with Nessler's reagent for the determination of ammonium nitrogen. In this procedure, 250 mg of finely ground coal are digested within 30 minutes by heating with 25-60 ml of a 4:1 mixture of H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ - H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ in a special Digesdahl apparatus. After boiling to destroy excess hydrogen peroxide and cooling, subsequent color development and spectrophotometric measurement at 460 nm take only about 5 minutes. Application of this procedure gave good results for the nitrogen values of two NBS coal samples and reasonably good agreement for Illinois and Iowa (run-of-mine and physically and chemically cleaned) coal samples analyzed by a modified Kjeldahl procedure.
Research Organization:
Iowa State Mining and Mineral Resources Research Inst., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA
OSTI ID:
5651982
Report Number(s):
CONF-860425-
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Gas Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Journal Volume: 31:1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English