부산대학교 도서관

The overall objective of this research project is to provide fundamental data on the physical and chemical surface properties of Illinois coals, specifically those of the Illinois Basin Coal Sample Program (IBCSP). This will help coal researchers achieve an optimal match between Illinois Basin coals and potential coal cleaning and conversion processes (or at least reduce the number of coals suitable for a particular process) and may lead to improved desulfurization and increased utilization of Illinois Basin coals. The specific tasks scheduled to meet our objective are: (1) Physical Characterization: Determine total surface area, porosity, pore size and volume distributions of IBCSP coals crushed to two particle sizes, {minus}100 and {minus}400 mesh (exclusive of IBC-108 which is available only in {minus}400 mesh form), in both an unoxidized and oxidized state. (2) Chemical Characterization: Determine the surface charge (electrokinetic mobility) as a function of pH by electrophoresis and analyze the surface chemical structure of the above samples using Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopy (DRIS). (3) Multivariate Statistical Analyses: Explore possible relationships among the newly determined surface properties and other available characterization data, including chemical and petrographic compositions, vitrinite reflectance, free swelling index, ash yield, sulfur forms, and other relevant properties.