Chapter 37 - Thermal Analysis of Coal and Coal Ashes

Abstract

Publisher Summary Thermal analysis methods, in addition to other instrumental analysis methods, play an important role in the investigation of useful mineral substances. Their application to the study of coals and coal products has increased considerably in the last two decades, and these methods are now being introduced into present laboratory practice. The basis of these methods lies in the physical and chemical transformations that take place in a solid substance when heated. These transformations are closely related to the chemical nature of the substance and to its crystalline structure, and these transformations are recorded as graphs called thermal curves. Thermal analyses are those instrumental dynamic analysis methods that monitor the physical and chemical transformations that take place in the structure of a substance being heated or cooled. On this principle, a large array of instrumental methods has been developed based on variations in mass, volume, and temperature between the sample under analysis and a thermally inert substance. This chapter presents the basic principles of thermal analysis methods such as differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetry, and derivative thermogravimetry.