Key Peculiarities of the Pyrolysis Behavior of Different Rank Coals, and Characterization of the Pyrolysis Products

Abstract

The chemical composition, structural and plastometric properties of typical different-ranked coals from Mongolia deposits were studied. The non-isothermal iso-conversion Ozawa-Flynn-Wall method was used to assess kinetic parameters and to differentiate decomposition steps. Key peculiarities of the pyrolysis kinetics of brown and bituminous coals were revealed and discussed in terms of the composition and plastometric properties of coals. Brown coal was shown to undergo three decomposition steps with ever increasing activation energy as temperature increased because of the decomposition of thermally more and more stable molecular fragments. The pyrolysis of bituminous coals occurred in four steps, the activation energy having an extreme mode of temperature dependence. An important new finding was that the temperature range of the second, major pyrolysis step well corresponded to that between the softening and resolidification temperatures according to Gieseler plastometry, so that the decomposition of bituminous coals at the second step proceeded in a fluid-like medium, moreover, with constant activation energy. The yield and composition of the pyrolysis products obtained under isothermal conditions were also characterized depending on coal rank and temperature, and the ways for qualified utiliza tions were offered.