Intensification of bituminous coal and lignite oxidation by copper-based activating additives

Abstract

Abstract The oxidation of lignite and bituminous coal samples modified by 5 wt% (in terms of dry salt) addition of copper salts Cu(NO3)2, CuSO4, and Cu(CH3COO)2 was studied. The samples’ reactivity was studied by thermogravimetry within a temperature range of 45–600 °C at a heating rate of 2.5 °C/min in an oxidizing environment. The introduction of activating additives has resulted in a significant decrease in the temperature of intense oxidation onset (ΔT i = 20/94 °C), in a reduction in the sample residence time in the volatile matter release region (Δt e = 2/22 min) and the total duration of the coal combustible mass oxidation (Δt f = 8/14 min). The Friedman method was used to calculate the activation energy values for the oxidation process of the modified samples. The maximum change in activation energy values was observed for the bituminous coal sample. The possible mechanism behind the action of the copper-salt additives, which activate the oxidation of lignite and bituminous coal, is discussed. According to the data of mass spectrometric analysis, the concentration of NO x in the reaction products decreases as the temperature of the activated oxidation process is shifted towards the low-temperature region.

Keywords

• Coal
• Activated oxidation
• Copper nitrate
• Copper sulfate
• Copper acetate
• Thermo-gravimetric and mass spectrometry analysis