USE OF MACERAL CONTENT TO CHARACTERIZE STEAM COAL PERFORMANCE

Jane Chen1, Shi Su2 and, John H. Pohl3 1. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 2. CSIRO, Pullenvale, QLD, Australia, and 3. Virginia Tech/ARI, Alexandria,VA Introduction The maceral is the original vegetable matter laid down to form coal. Maceral content is measured under the optical microscope using reflectance and structure to identify the macerals and surface area (converted to volume) to quantify the maceral groups. Figure 1. shows the maceral groups for hard coals (as opposed to brown, younger coals). Macerals have been used for a long time to characterize the performance of coking coals. The major maceral groups are vitrinite composed of woody structures, exinite (also called liptinite) composed of resins, and inertinite composed of highly altered charcoal. The maceral groups are further divided into maceral subgroups (2). Falcon and Snyman (3) show micrographs of the different submacerals. Pohl (1) correlated most of the physical and chemical properties of coal with the maceral groups and the carbon content on a dry ashfree basis (C(daf)). The correlations included chemical content gross chacateristics such as volatile matter content of brown and black coals, chemical structure, and most physical properties. The nitrogen content, porosity, and surface area of the coal did not correlate well with the maceral groups and C(daf). In general, the maceral group accounts for the original vegetable matter and the carbon content accounts for geological alternation of the material. Figure 2. shows an example of the correlation for volatile matter of hard (black) coal.

Figure 2. Correlation of volatile matter with carbon content for hard coals.(1). The correlation used the amount of exinite plus ineritinite with a reflectance greater than 0.96. The correlation worked reasonably well, but had some problems. All maceral groups should be included. However, exinite was considered to rapidly volatilize (see Figure 2.) and burn quickly, and it was not considered necessary to include exinite in the correlation. The percent of vitrinite with reflectance greater than 0.96 worked reasonably well for USA coals where the major maceral group is vitrinite, but the correlation had to be done with percent of vitrinite and inernite with reflectance greater than 0.96 for Australian coals, where a majority of the maceral groups can be inertinite. Finally, the correlation could not differentiate between the burnout of different coals that had either 0 or 100 percent of the maceral material with reflectance greater that 0.96. Chen, et al. (4) have recently made weight loss measurements during devolatilization and burning of single 100 um particles from pure vitrinite and some inertinite macerals groups. Chen identified the maceral groups under the optical microscope and dug out low ash 100 um pieces. The particles were suspended on a fine vibrating needle whose amplitude and frequency response were previously calibrated with glass spheres of known weight. A laser beam was spilt and used to heat the particle from two sides. We measured the particle temperature using two-color pyrometry and measured the change in amplitude and frequency continually through several hundred milliseconds until the particle completely burned. Five particles from each maceral were burned to statistically achieve an accuracy less than a factor of two for the rate of burning. Figure 3. shows the rate of weight loss in time for 5 particles each of coals with different rank (reflectance) dug from Australian Coals. Figure 3. indicates that at 80 percent burnout the rate of burning depends on the reflectance (rank) of the coal. Coals with low reflectance can have high rates of burning, while bituminous coals with reflectance near 1 can have low rates of burning. Preliminary data indicates different macerals of the same reflectance have the same burning rate and that the minimum in burning rate is a result of loss of surface area for bituminous coals. Finally Su (6) used combinations of maceral concentrations to correlate the flame stability of pure and blends of Australian coals burned in the EER and Australia Coal Industry Research Laboratry (ACIRL) pilot scale furnaces.

Figure 1. Maceral groups in coal. Heap, et al (1). Pohl made attempts to correlate the maceral compositions of coals (1983-1986) with burnout of the coals measured in the Energy and Environmental Research Corp (EER) pilot scale furnace.

Prepr. Pap.-Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem. 2004, 49(2), 923

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Figure 5. shows the correlation of the maceral index with burnout. The correlation is excellent at high and low burnouts, but there is some scatter at burnouts around 99.5 percent and a few (5) points were not used to develop the empirical equation.

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Figute 3. Vitrinite Maceral burning rate at 80 percent burnout. Chen, et al (4).

Figure 5. Correlation of Maceral Index (MI) with pilot scale burnout. A few points around 99 percent burnout were not included in developing the equation. Conclusions Maceral content appears to be a promising parameter to correlate coal properties and coal performance. Acknowledgement. The authors wish to thank those who funded portions of the work at different times and places.:Electric Power Research Institute Palo Alto, CA, USA and Arun Metha, The Cooperativbe Research Centre for Black Coal Utilisation Research, Newcastle, NSW. Australia. We would also like to thank the places where this work was done: Energy and Environmental Research Co, Irvine, CA, USA, University of Queensland, Brisbane,QLD, Australia, and Australia Coal Industry Research Laboratory (ACIRL), Ipswich, QLD, Australia. References (1) Heap, M.P., J.C. Karmlich, D.W. Pershing, J.H. Pohl, W.F. Richter, and W.R.. Seeker, Effects of Coal Quality on Power Plant Performance and Costs, v.. 4 Review of Coal Science Fundamentals, Electric Power Research Institute, CS-4283, February 1986. (2) Van Krevelen, D.W., Coal: Typology,-Physics,-ChemistryConstitution, 3rd ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1993);p. 39. (3) Falcon, R.M..S., and C.P. Snyman, An Introduction to Coal Petrography: Atlas of Petrographic Constituents in the Bituminous Coals of Southern Africa, The Geological Society of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. (4) Chen, J., J.H. Pohl, V. Rudolph, and D. Harris, Combustion Rates of Single Maceral Particles from Australian Coals, Clean Power from Coal with Maximum Efficiency, China-Australian Workshop, Tiayuan, Shanxi, China, August 2001. (5) J.H. Pohl and R. Payne, Pilot scale Evaluation of Mineral Matter on Boiler Performance, 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Coal Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, 1985, P.670. (6) Su, S. J.H. Pohl, and D. Holcombe, Power Plant Performance of Blended Coals, 1st International Energy Conversion and Engineering Conference, AIAA, Portsmouth, VA, August 2003.

Figure 4. Correlation of Maceral Index (MI) with observed flame stability in two pilot scale furnaces. Su et a. (6) The Maceral Index (MI) is: MI=(L+V/R2/I1.25)*(HV/30) Where MI=maceral index L=volume percent of liptinite (exinite) V=volume percent of vitrinite R= vitrinite reflectance I= volume percent inertinite HV= high heating value in kcal/kg

Prepr. Pap.-Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem. 2004, 49(2), 924