Oxidative combustion law of water-soaked coal under oxygen-lean condition

Abstract

ABSTRACT Residual coal is easily submerged and damaged by groundwater. In the course of mining underlying coal seam, coal belonging to the overlying gob area tends to spontaneously combust during draining water. To explore the effect of micro-functional group transformation in immersed coal on the coal spontaneous combustion (CSC) traits during the low-temperature oxidation process (LTO), the migrant law of special functional groups under varying oxygen concentration (Co) of immersed coal was discussed by infrared spectroscopy. The endothermal and exothermal properties of the function group inside of coal were studied via thermal analysis. It is shown that the higher Co, the more oxygenic function groups on the soaked, and by contrasted with the Co of 18% the 14% has a small increase and the chain length is shortened. The temperature increment together with the Co content determines the functional group content, the pyrolysis process produces some function group. The lower the Co, endothermic coefficient decreases and endothermic temperature increases, the higher the ignition temperature of coal oxy-combustion, the lower the total heat release. And the speed of the oxygen-absorbing weight gain and the conversion of the functional group would be improved followed by the burnout temperature rising. Below 14% Co, the oxidative combustion process will be greatly inhibited. Those findings complement a theoretical basis for preventing long-term water-soaked coal oxidative spontaneous combusting in shallow buried coal seams.