Dynamic behaviour of coal macerals during pyrolysis – Associations between physical, thermal and chemical changes

A fundamental study on the behaviour of heating coal macerals has been undertaken using two novel thermal analysis techniques. The apparent specific heat was determined during heating using an inverse calorimetric method (computer aided thermal analysis, CATA) and combined with pressure and displacement measurements to correlate endothermic and exothermic behaviour with measurement of swelling. The second technique used a post-oxidation stage to combust the tars and gases into products which were analysed. This method was used to study the elemental character of volatiles release from coal maceral concentrates in terms of carbon and hydrogen. Extents of swelling and exothermicity during primary devolatilisation were found to be correlated with vitrinite content and were associated with tar evolution. For the highest vitrinite fraction (of 86.4% vitrinite) swelling was initiated at the same temperature range for exothermic reactions, and maximum swelling coincided with the peak release of light gases. Tar evolution was found to change in chemical character (as defined by H/C ratio) during progressive heating, initially rising in the early stages of tar formation (<430 °C) to a maximum of 1.24, then gradually decreasing to a minimum of 0.64 at 550 °C.