Analysis of Geting Bituminous Coal by Electrospray Ionization and Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Understanding the structure and composition of coals is important for effective, clean, and value-added utilization. In addition to gas chromatography=mass spectrometry which is commonly used to analyze coal, mass spectrometry (MS) may be used with other ion sources such as electrospray ionization (ESI) and direct analysis in real time (DART) for characterization. In this work, Geting bituminous coal was extracted sequentially and exhaustively with petroleum ether, carbon disulfide, methanol, acetone, an isometric acetone/carbon disulfide mixture, tetrahydrofuran, and an isometric tetrahydrofuran/carbon disulfide mixture. Raw coal, extracts, and the extraction residue were analyzed using MS equipped with ESI or DART. Organic heteroatomic species in the extracts were determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry equipped with ESI. Molecular weight distributions of organic species in raw coal, extracts, and extraction residue were characterized by ESI-MS and DART-MS. Associated molecules and homologous compounds in coal extracts were identified.

Molecular characterization of heteroatomic compounds in a high-temperature coal tar using three mass spectrometers

“…The difficulty in characterization of complex components in coal tar is converting molecules with different polarities into gaseous ions that can be detected while at the same time preserving the properties of interest [22]. In this work, three MS systems with different ion sources and mass analyzers developed in recent years were used to analyze the petroleum ether extract of a high-temperature coal tar (HTCT), which is obtained in the coking process at 1000°C.…”

Sequential ultrasonic extraction of a Chinese coal and characterization of nitrogen‐containing compounds in the extracts using high‐performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry

“…The polarity of ONCs is relatively higher than that of sulfur‐containing compounds, and therefore ONCs are easy to be ionized by ESI ion source . For example, ESI‐MS was used to characterize polar and basic heteroatom‐containing compounds with pyridinic or pyrrolic rings in coals . Nitrogen‐ and oxygen‐containing compounds in coal with high degree of unsaturation were detected using HPLC–ESI‐MS .…”

Evaluation of coal‐related model compounds using tandem mass spectrometry

“…Nowadays, coal conversion covers many industrial fields including coking, liquefaction and gasification . However, coal utilization remains of low efficiency and environmentally unfriendly due to the lack of knowledge of the composition of coals and coal derivatives . Much effort has been contributed to the investigation of the structure and composition of coals and their derivatives via various analytical techniques, including mass spectrometry (MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, etc.…”