Chemical and physical structure properties
of coal macromolecules
are the main microscopic factors affecting coal wettability. Numerous
studies on coal structures have found that lignite, as a coal of low
metamorphic degree, shows more-complicated macromolecular structures
than other types of coal, and the macromolecular structure of lignite
can better promote coal wettability than other low metamorphic coals
with similar physical pore structures. To investigate the underlying
reasons, lignite samples from the main coal producing areas of China
were analyzed via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared
(FTIR) spectroscopy, and physical methods were used to construct two-dimensional
and three-dimensional models of lignite macroscopic molecular structures
to study its effect on coal wettability. The results indicated that
aromatic layer spacing of lignite was considerably large and showed
a low degree of aromatization with irregular arrangement and less
directional degree. The macroscopic molecular structure of lignite
was composed of 3–4 effectively stacked aromatic layers and
alicyclic layers of hexagonal or pentagonal structures. The alicyclic
ring structure was well-developed in the atom radial direction and
had a high content of active ingredient, which was prone to attractive
interaction with other molecules. The molecular formula of the lignite
sample was determined to be C180H145O31N5S and the adsorption and spreading of wetting agents
were found to be mainly dependent on the hydrophilic ability of coal
surface. Furthermore, the microscopic pore stacking stereochemical
structure of lignite indicated the existence of hydrophilic groups
in surface functional groups around molecular nucleus, which resulted
in the formation of infiltration points in the coal crystallite nucleus
structure. Meanwhile, the absence of delocalized electron in the atom
radial direction of amorphous lignite atoms could induce a relatively
poor ability of attracting negative charge, and thus lessening the
repulsive interaction to the electronegative ions in aqueous solutions,
which promoted the wetting effect to some extent.