DEVELOPMENT OF CARBON PRODUCTS FROM LOW-RANK COALS

The goal of this project is to facilitate the production of carbon fibers from low-rank coal (LRC) tars. To this end, the effect of demineralization on the tar yields and composition was investigated using high-sodium and high-calcium lignites commonly mined in North Dakota. These coals were demineralized by ion exchange with ammonium acetate and by cation dissolution with nitric acid. Two types of thermal processing were investigated for obtaining suitable precursors for pitch and fiber production. Initially, tars were produced by simple pyrolysis of the set of samples at 650 C. Since these experiments produced little usable material from any of the samples, the coals were heated at moderate temperatures (380 and 400 C) in tetralin solvent to form and extract the plastic material (metaplast) that forms at these temperatures