Chemical Leaching of Low Rank Coal and its Characterization using SEM/EDAX and FTIR

B. Manoj, A.G. Kunjomana, K.A. Chandrasekharan

Department of Physics, Christ University, Hosur Road, Bangalore -29 Karnataka, India..

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2009.810071                

Abstract

Demineralization of coal carried out using EDTA for different time and HF of varying concentration. The residual coal from each treatment was characterized together with virgin coal using Scanning Electron Microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). Micrograph and EDAX analysis of Virgin coal reveal the features lithophiles like aluminium, silicates and calcium. The absence of the features corresponding inorganic elements in residual samples is an indication of demineralization. An elemental analyzer was adopted to analyze CHNS on virgin and residual coal sample. The current research compares the leaching efficiency of a mild leachant and a strong leachant. The final analysis showed that the coal under study was sub bituminous coal and leaching could improve the amount of carbonaceous material.

Keywords

Coal; Minerals; Characterization; SEM; EDAX; FTIR

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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