COAL SOLUBILITY AND SWELLING .2. EFFECT OF HYDROGEN-BONDING ON CALCULATIONS OF MOLECULAR-WEIGHT FROM SWELLING MEASUREMENTS

In this paper theories of swelling that have been applied to coal are modified to account for hydrogen bonding. The results of various swelling measurements are analyzed and suggest some important conclusions. First, the calculated molecular weights are low, indicating that even a modified Gaussian would not describe their chain statistics, thus invalidating the model. Second, an analysis of the phase behavior suggests that the phenomenon of gel collapse could be observed in swollen coal networks. Finally, the swollen coal network itself could be phase separated. These last two predictions account for various previously reported experimental observations and suggest new experiments that would test the validity of the analysis. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.