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Chemical structure of coal surface and its effects on methane adsorption under different temperature conditions

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Abstract

In this study, the surface chemical functional groups of six different ranked Chinese coals were investigated based on Fourier transform infrared and high-pressure methane adsorption experiments. Four structural parameters calculated by FTIR semi-quantitative method were used to evaluate the chemical characteristics of coals. The impacts of the chemical structural parameters on methane adsorption capacities under different temperature conditions were analyzed systematically. Results show that coal increases its aromaticity with increasing coalification, while aliphatic CH groups in addition to oxygen and hydroxyl groups would be dramatically decreased. With the increasing of vitrinite reflectance, aromaticity and the degree of condensation increases correspondingly, while the chain length present a negative correlations with increasing of vitrinite reflectance. ‘A’ factor peaked in the coal of Ro,max = 1.49% and subsequently decreased in higher rank coals. And, ‘C’ factor shows a saddle type of changing trend for the selected coal rank ranges. There is a positive liner correlation between surface adsorption capacity and aromaticity, and a negative liner correlation between Langmuir pressure and aromaticity. With the degree of condensation increasing, surface adsorption capacity of methane adsorption on the coal shows a rising trend and Langmuir pressure decreases gradually. The effects of chain length on fitting parameters of methane adsorption show that the longer or less branched chain structure is not suitable for methane adsorption.

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Acknowledgements

Financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51574230) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.2014QNA04) are sincerely acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Gas and Fire Control for Coal Mines of Ministry of Education, School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Yuannan Zheng, Qingzhao Li, Desheng Yuan, Guiyun Zhang, Junfeng Liu, Chuangchuang Yuan & Qinglin Tao

  2. Shaanxi Binchang Mining Group Co., Ltd., Xianyang, 712000, Shaanxi, China

    Desheng Yuan

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  1. Yuannan Zheng
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  2. Qingzhao Li
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Correspondence to Qingzhao Li.

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Zheng, Y., Li, Q., Yuan, D. et al. Chemical structure of coal surface and its effects on methane adsorption under different temperature conditions. Adsorption 24, 613–628 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-018-9975-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-018-9975-9

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