Characterizatin of Rocky Mountain coals and coal liquids by computerized analytical techniques. Progress report

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5923016

Meuzelaar, H L.C.; Hill, G R; Futrell, J H; Harper, A M; Iwamoto, D J; Pope, D L; Metcalf, G S; Tomlinson, J H

Over 100 Rocky Mountain coal samples were selected from the Penn State University collection and analyzed by pyrolysis mass spectrometry. Computerized pattern recognition permitted the successful reduction and evaluation of the massive data base generated (over 100,000 mass peak intensities) and revealed strong clustering tendencies of pyrolysis patterns. The pyrolysis mass spectra show strong rank effects allowing complete differentiation between HVCB and HVBB coals and partial differentiation both between subbituminous and HVCB samples and between HVBB and HVAB samples. Besides rank effects, marked differences are frequently found between samples from different coal regions, fields or even seams. The high degree of similarity observed between the pyrolysis mass spectra of samples from the same coal seam demonstrates that the combined uncertainties in sample collection, preparation and analysis are much smaller than the chemical differences detected by the pyrolysis MS methodology. Information on the presence of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon and heteroatomic compound series in these coals is readily obtained. Computer-assisted chemical interpretation shows strong positive correlation of naphthalene content with rank, while dihydroxybenzenes correlate negatively. Differences in aliphatic hydrocarbon, phenol, and sulfur compound signals correlate more strongly with coal region, field or seam than with rank. The results provide an overview of selected structural characteristics of Rocky Mountain coals. Previous studies have shown these structural features to be relevant for predicting liquefaction yields. On the basis of the classification results a limited number of coals representative of the different chemical classes can be selected for more extensive analytical and engineering experiments.

• Research Organization: Utah Univ., Salt Lake City (USA). Biomaterials Profiling Center
• DOE Contract Number: FG22-80PC30242
• OSTI ID: 5923016
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/30242-T1; ON: DE82001802
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010600* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Properties & Composition
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400104 -- Spectral Procedures-- (-1987)
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLASSIFICATION
COAL
COAL RANK
CURIE POINT
DATA
DATA PROCESSING
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INFORMATION
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MATERIALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PETROGRAPHY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROCESSING
PYROLYSIS
SAMPLING
SPECTROSCOPY
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE