RELATION BETWEEN REACTIVITY AND STRUCTURE FOR COALS AND CHARS

Causal relationships were determined for the chemical and physical properties and reaction characteristics of three coals and two types of chars derived from these coals. The reactivities of the virgin coals and extract chars correlated well with the fuel rank. The higher proximate volatiles contents in these prepared fuels resulted in reactivities higher than those measured for the low-volatile pyrolysis chars. The reactivities of the pyrolysis chars were strongly correlated with fuel properties, whose relative order of importance was: catalytic elements > porosity > hydrogen types > cluster size.