Experimental Study on the Method of Extracting Humic Acids from Brown Coal Using Hydrogen Peroxide

[ Objective l The study aimed to discuss the optimal conditions of extracting humic acids from brown coal using hydrogen peroxide （H202）. [ Method] Fulvic acid （FA） was prepared through oxidizing the brown coal from Qujing City, Yunnan Province using H202, and humic acids were extracted from the original brown coal and its residues respectively, then the dominate constituents of humic acids were obtained by using pH grading method, finally their chemical composition of humid acids was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and func- tional group content analysis. [Result] The mass ratio of the brown coal and oxidant affected the yield of FA most obviously, followed by oxidization temperature and duration, while oxidant concentration had no obvious effect. The optimum conditions were determined as follows： coal-oxidant ratio was 1 ： 0.60, oxidization temperature was 45 ℃, oxidization duration was 210 min, and the concentration of hydrogen peroxide was 20%. Under the conditions, the yield of FA was up to 20.40%. Analysis of component properties indicated that the content of carboxyl and total acidic groups in FA improved obviously under the optimum conditions, and the content of active functional groups in OHA was higher than that of HA, while the domi- nate constituents of OHA needed higher pH during precipitation compared with those of HA. [ Conclusion] The research could provide a new method to prepare good humic acids using brown coal,