Energy & Fuels, Vol.12, No.3, 470-475, 1998
Coal gels formed by coal-solvent interactions
Upper Freeport coal (APCS-1) was fractionated to several extract fractions and an extraction residue using carbon disulfide-N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) mixed solvent, acetone, and pyridine at room temperature. NMP was added stepwise to the coal fractions with mixing. At a rather narrow range of compositions of the coal samples and NMP, small-amplitude dynamic oscillatory measurements of the mixture using a rheometer showed that it has a rubbery plateau, i.e., a characteristic behavior of elastic gel, in which the coal content in the mixtures which can form a gel increased as the fractions became heavier. The viscoelasticity of the mixtures increased with Standing time (1-6 days), suggesting that the network structure consisting of coal-NMP interactions was developing with time. The mixture of the extraction residue with NMP showed similar viscoelastic behaviors as that of heavy extract fraction with NMP. The result suggests that both networks from the extract fractions and the residue are composed of physical networks by secondary bonds, i.e., noncovalent interactions and/or entanglements between coal particles and NMP.
Keywords:CS2-N-METHYL-2-PYRROLIDINONE MIXED-SOLVENT;ARGONNE PREMIUM COALS;ROOM-TEMPERATURE;2ND-ORDER TRANSITIONS;EXTRACTION;SAMPLES;RANK