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Title: Oxidation of coal and coal pyrite mechanisms and influence on surface characteristics. Technical progress report, December 31, 1993

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10143817· OSTI ID:10143817

The objective of this research is to develop a mechanistic understanding of the oxidation of coal and coal pyrite, and to correlate the intrinsic physical and chemical properties of these minerals, along with changes resulting from oxidation, with those surface properties that influence the behavior in physical cleaning processes. The results will provide fundamental insight into oxidation, in term of the bulk and surface chemistry, the microstructure, and the semiconductor properties of the pyrite. During the thirteenth quarter, wet oxidation tests were done on coal samples from the Pennsylvania State Coal Bank. As-received and oxidized coal samples were studied by Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy to detect functional groups that might be responsible for changing the hydrophobicity of coal samples. Coal samples from the Pennsylvania State Coal Bank were oxidized for 5 hours at room temperature using 10% H{sub 2}O{sub 2} at pH 1.0, 1.0 M HNO{sub 3} or 0.05 M Fe{sub 2}(SO{sub 4}){sub 3} at pH 1.0. Details of the experimental procedure used in the wet oxidation tests were provided in our September 30, 1993 report, along with results of ion-exchange analysis and film flotation tests on as-received and oxidized coal samples. Table II shows the weight percentage of carboxylic and phenolic group oxygen generated by oxidation with different treatments, as determined by ion-exchange. DRIFT spectroscopic analysis was done on as-received and oxidized samples to identify different functionalities directly, to supplement the information on carboxylic and phenolic groups obtained indirectly by ion-exchange methods. The procedure for DRIFT analysis was reported in our June 30, 1993 report.

Research Organization:
California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FG22-90PC90287
OSTI ID:
10143817
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/90287-T13; ON: DE94010280; BR: AA1525050
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: [1993]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English