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Experimental study on the effect of cold soaking with liquid nitrogen on the coal chemical and microstructural characteristics

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Abstract 

In this paper, the chemical microstructure of coal samples is quantitatively analyzed experimentally before and after liquid nitrogen cold soaking, by using elemental analyzer, X-ray diffractometer, and Fourier infrared spectrometer, including the reverse side of chemical composition of elements, organic matter, and functional groups. It was found that with the increase of coal metamorphism, the contents of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur elements gradually increase, while those of hydrogen and oxygen elements gradually decrease. In addition, as the degree of metamorphism increases, the graphitization phenomenon of coal becomes weaker, the interlayer spacing of aromatic rings (d002) increases, the structure of coal crystal nucleus is loose, its order is weakened, the crystal volume becomes smaller, and the void structure unit increases. The FTIR spectra of each coal sample could be divided into four absorption bands, i.e., the aromatic structure, oxygen-containing functional group, aliphatic group, and hydroxyl absorption band. After cold soaking of liquid nitrogen, the peak intensity areas of aromatic and aliphatic structures decrease, while those of oxygenated functional groups and hydroxyl groups increase, and the values of A(C = O)/A(C-O) increase and those of A(CH3)/A(CH2) decrease, mainly due to the gradual decrease of methylene side chains and increase of methylene straight chains. The present results are helpful to further reveal the mechanism of adsorption-resolution deformation of coal body due to cold immersion of liquid nitrogen.

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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors also thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for useful advice.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Taishan Scholars Project, National Natural Science Foundation of China (52104204, 52204226, & 52174174), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021QE170, ZR2022QE243), Chongqing Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (cstc2019jcyjjqX0019), Chongqing Science and Technology Innovation Leader Talent Support Program (CSTCCXLJRC201911), State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Gas Geology and Gas Control: Henan Polytechnic University (WS2021B03), and Qingdao Postdoctoral Applied Research Project, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (2022 M711961).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mine Disaster Prevention and Control-Ministry of State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Shumin Liu & Xuelong Li

  2. College of Energy and Mining Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Shumin Liu & Xuelong Li

  3. State Key Laboratory of The Gas Disaster Detecting, Preventing and Emergency Controlling, Coal Technology and Engineering Group, Chongqing Research Institute, Chongqing, 400039, China

    Shumin Liu

  4. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Gas Geology and Gas Control, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454150, Henan, China

    Shumin Liu

  5. State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China

    Xuelong Li

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  1. Shumin Liu
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Shumin Liu: conceptualization. Xuelong Li: writing original draft preparation.

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Liu, S., Li, X. Experimental study on the effect of cold soaking with liquid nitrogen on the coal chemical and microstructural characteristics. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 36080–36097 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24821-9

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