Design of experiments to optimize the extraction parameters of a power grade Indian coal

Low grade high ash coals with difficult physical washability characteristics require chemical cleaning techniques such as solvent extractio n to obtain super clean coal with lower ash conte nts.Kedla,an In di an low grade coal has ash con tent around 44%-50%and there is a need to maximize its solvent extraction yield so as to make this power grade coal industrially useful.This paper highlights the use of definitive screening design and response surface methodology to extract the maximum organic matter from Kedla coal using ethylenediannnine(EDA)and N-methyl pyrollidone(NMP)as solvents under mild atmospheric pressure conditions.The coal was pre-treated with acetic acid before extractions were carried out.The parameters such as the acid pre-treatment time,acid concenmion,particle size,the co-solvent concentratio n and the solvent concentration were optimized in this paper.With this design of experimenls technique about 40%of the organic matter with minimal ash(less than 2%)content was「endered extractable unlike the already postulated designer solvent system—e,N system(i.e.NMP containing small amount of EDA)that uses coal to solve nt ratio as 1:17(wt/vol)and coal to co-solvent ratio as 1:l(wt/vol)thus only giving 19%extraction yield.Therefore,the present design of experimetechnique helps in conserving the number of experimems for process intensification.

Insights from principal component analysis applied to Py-GCMS study of Indian coals and their solvent extracted clean coal products

The present work aims at studying five Indian coals and their solvent extracted clean coal products using Py-GCMS analysis and correlating the characterization data using theoretical principal component analysis.The pyrolysis products of the original coals and the super clean coals were classified as mono-,di-and tri-aromatics,while other prominent products that were obtained included cycloalkanes,n-alkanes,and alkenes ranging from C_(10)-C_(29).The principal component analysis is a dimensionality reduction technique that reduced the number of input variables in the characterization dataset and gave inferences on the relative composition of constituent compounds and functional groups and structural insights based on scores and loading plots which were consistent with the experimental observations.ATR-FTIR studies confirmed the reduced concentration of ash in the super clean coals and the presence of aromatics.The Py-GCMS data and the ATR-FTIR spectra led to the conclusion that the super clean coals behaved similarly for both coking and noncoking coals with high aromatic concentrations as compared to the raw coal.Neyveli lignite super clean coal was found to show some structural similarity with the original coals,whereas the other super clean coals showed structural similarity within themselves but not with their original coal samples confirming the selective action of the e,N solvent in solubilizing the polycondensed aromatic structures in the coal samples.

Advances in the chemical leaching (inorgano-leaching), bioleaching and desulphurisation of coals

Coal still remains an important source of power generation world over. Along with its usage, comes unwanted generation of noxious gas emissions, toxic metal releases into wastewater and other pollutants which ultimately lead to environmental concerns. So cleaning of coal through physical or chemical processes becomes utmost important. There are several coals which cannot be cleaned by physical beneficiation techniques to produce low ash cleaner coals. Such coals can be cleaned only through chemical cleaning techniques. The present paper reviews the chemical demineralisation and desulphurisation of coals over the years using various inorganic and organic acids, alkalis, oxidants, leachants and various acids and alkali-acid combinations to reduce the ash and sulphur contents in coals. As high as 90% demineralisation and desulfurization could be achieved with the use of these cheap inorganic acids as compared to the expensive solvents used for solvent extraction processes, a parallel approach of cleaning and refining coals.

Fractionation of coal through organo-separative refining for enhancing its potential for the CO2-gasification

Coal gasification has already been extensively studied earlier under varying conditions of steam,CO2,O2,inert conditions.Belbaid coal and its e,N and NMP-DETA SCC products recovered through organo-refining under milder ambient pressure conditions were subjected to CO2-gasification in a fixed bed reactor under varying conditions.CO2 being an inert gas becomes the most challenging to be utilized during the gasification process.The SCCs showed better CO2-gasification reactivity than the raw Belbaid coal at 900°C.The use of the catalyst K2CO3 tremendously increased the gasification reactivity for both raw coal and the SCCs.The use of sugarcane bagasse for CO2-gasification along with raw coal as well as with residual coal was also studied.Gasification under CO2 atmosphere conditions was used to structurally understand the coals as the coal structure gets loosened after extraction.