Coal plasticity at high heating rates and temperatures

The broad objective of this project is to obtain improved, quantitative understanding of the transient plasticity of bituminous coals under high heating rates and other reaction and pretreatment conditions of scientific and practical interest. To these ends the research plan is to measure the softening and resolidification behavior of two US bituminous coals with a rapid-heating, fast response, high-temperature coal plastometer, previously developed in this laboratory. Specific measurements planned for the project include determinations of apparent viscosity, softening temperature, plastic period, and resolidificationtime for molten coal: (1) as a function of independent variations in coal type, heating rate, final temperature, gaseous atmosphere (inert, 0{sub 2} or H{sub 2}), and shear rate; and (2) in exploratory runs where coal is pretreated (preoxidation, pyridine extraction, metaplast cracking agents), before heating. The intra-coal inventory and molecular weight distribution of pyridine extractables will also be measured using a rapid quenching, electrical screen heater coal pyrolysis reactor. The yield of extractables is representative of the intra-coal inventory of plasticing agent (metaplast) remaining after quenching. Coal plasticity kinetics will then be mathematically modeled from metaplast generation and depletion rates, via a correlation between the viscosity of a suspension and the concentration of deformable medium (here metaplast) in that suspension. Work during this reporting period has been concerned with re-commissioning the rapid heating rate plastometer apparatus