摘要
Coals are carbon-rich materials with excellent aromatic nature and macro- molecular structure. They pose great potential as the source of organic chemical feed- stock and high value-added carbonaceous materials in the 21st century. As some of the most important analytical methods, thermal analysis (TA) techniques with strong com- petence in materials characterization and reaction mechanism research, have been ex- tensively employed to accumulate the knowledge about coal conversion and utilization in a most effective, efficient and responsible way. Unfortunately, some efforts did not promote the sound growth of a systematic discipline, which might arise from the intrinsic drawback of conventional TA. Proposals on acquiring much more reliable understanding of the mechanism and kinetics of reactions were made in this review.
Coals are carbon-rich materials with excellent aromatic nature and macro- molecular structure. They pose great potential as the source of organic chemical feed- stock and high value-added carbonaceous materials in the 21st century. As some of the most important analytical methods, thermal analysis (TA) techniques with strong com- petence in materials characterization and reaction mechanism research, have been ex- tensively employed to accumulate the knowledge about coal conversion and utilization in a most effective, efficient and responsible way. Unfortunately, some efforts did not promote the sound growth of a systematic discipline, which might arise from the intrinsic drawback of conventional TA. Proposals on acquiring much more reliable understanding of the mechanism and kinetics of reactions were made in this review.
