CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ARGONNE PREMIUM COALS BY USING H-1 AND C-13 NMR AND FT-IR SPECTROSCOPIES

Argonne premium coals were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and a variety of transient techniques in solid-state H-1 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy. The NMR and FT-IR spectra were used to infer chemical functionalities of hydrogen and carbon in the premium coals and the results compared. The quantitative validity of the two techniques was also evaluated. Hydrogen aromaticities of the premium coals as measured by NMR are higher than the corresponding values obtained from FT-IR. Carbon aromaticities measured by NMR for the bituminous coals correlated well with the FT-IR values, but for the younger coals discrepancies of over 15% were found. NMR results were also compared with those reported for the same coals by others. The aromatic and aliphatic hydrogen-to-carbon ratios were evaluated and found to be in good correlation with the coals' rank.