Influence of pyrolysis pressure on structure and combustion reactivity of Zhundong demineralized coal char

The investigation on evolution of coal char structure during pressurized pyrolysis can reveal the combustion reactivity of coal char in thermal utilization at elevated pressure. In this study, Zhundong subbituminous coal was demineralized and a pressurized drop tube reactor (PDTR) was used to prepare coal char under different temperature and pressure conditions. The physicochemical structures of raw and demineralized coal chars were characterized by the application of nitrogen adsorption analyzer, automatic mercury porosimeter, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The change mechanism of char infrared structure with pyrolysis pressure is revealed on the molecular level in this paper. The results show that the N₂ adsorption quantity of raw coal char increases with the increase of pyrolysis temperature, while that of demineralized coal char decreases. Because of the difference in molecular volume and steric hindrance between aliphatic and aromatic structure in char, the increasing pressure has less inhibition effect on the escape of the former than the latter. With the increase of pyrolysis pressure, the combustion reactivity of char is related to the infrared structure at 700 and 800 °C while to macropore structure at 900 and 1000 °C.