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Molecular simulation and experimental studies on CO2 and N2 adsorption to bituminous coal

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Abstract

A coal fire is one of the most serious disasters in coal mining. To improve the efficiency of an inert gas for extinguishing the fire, the adsorption behavior of coal in CO2/N2 mixed gas was investigated in this study. Proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and molecular dynamics (MD) were applied to analyze and establish the bituminous coal molecular model. The adsorption behavior of bituminous coal in mixed gas mixtures with different proportions was studied using the bituminous coal model and Materials Studio (MS) software. A self-built coal adsorption experimental system was used for experiments. The adsorption of bituminous coal to CO2 is stronger than that to N2, and there is a competitive adsorption relationship between them. The amount of CO2 adsorbed by the coal gradually increases as the CO2 partial pressure rises, consistent with the Langmuir model. With an increase in CO2 pressure, the total adsorption capacity, which is divided into the rapid increase stage, slow growth stage, and stable stage, also increases. The coal adsorbs 0.5050 cm3/g, 0.7455 cm3/g, 0.9450 cm3/g, 1.0715 cm3/g, and 1.2000 cm3/g for pure N2, 2%, 5%, 7%, and 10% CO2, respectively, in the experiment. The results of the simulation and experiment show the same trend, which means that the injection of a small amount of CO2 into pure N2 will greatly improve the gas adsorption volume of the coal, demonstrating that it is feasible to improve the ability of the coal to absorb mixed gases by changing the gas concentration and consequently to increase the efficiency of inert gas for fire extinguishing and suppression.

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Acknowledgments

The financial and infrastructure support of the China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) Research Program of the School of Emergency Management and Safety Engineering is gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51774290).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Emergency Management and Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Hongqing Zhu, Song Guo, Yuyi Xie & Hongru Zhao

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  1. Hongqing Zhu
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  2. Song Guo
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  3. Yuyi Xie
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  4. Hongru Zhao
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Contributions

Hongqing Zhu: funding acquisition, supervision, and methodology

Song Guo: wrote this paper, conducted the simulation research, carried out the experiments, and processed the experimental data

Yuyi Xie: built the model and conducted the simulation research

Hongru Zhao: conceived the conceptualization and carried out the experiments

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Song Guo or Hongru Zhao.

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Responsible editor: Tito Roberto Cadaval Jr

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Zhu, H., Guo, S., Xie, Y. et al. Molecular simulation and experimental studies on CO2 and N2 adsorption to bituminous coal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 15673–15686 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11722-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11722-y

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