Periodic action mechanism of soaking on the evolution of lignite pore structure and microactive groups

Abstract

As the mining of the overlying coal seam advances, the risk of spontaneous combustion (SC) of water-immersed and air-dried coal in the overlying goaf increases. The structure of functional groups in coal is the fundamental factor for the occurrence of oxidation and heat production, and the surface pores are the main sites of oxidation reactions. In order to explore the mechanism of action of water immersion on the macrostructure and micro-group of lignite, the water-immersed coals (WIC) of 30 days (I30), 60 days (I60), 90 days (I90), 120 days (I120) and 150 days (I150) were prepared. The surface pore characteristics of coal and the evolution of active functional group structure were studied by nitrogen adsorption and infrared spectroscopy. The adsorption capacity of pores and surface structure of coal were quantitatively characterized by pore adsorption kinetic equations and fractal methods. The results showed that the fine-necked bottle-shaped pore structure of water-immersed lignite decreased, and the wedge-shaped pores and parallel plate slits increased. After water-soaking, the specific surface area of lignite increased first and then decreased, the pore volume and pore diameter increased gradually, D1 decreased gradually, D2 increased gradually, and the pore adsorption potential increased gradually, which characterized the gradual pore structure complexity and enhanced adsorption capacity. Water-soaking triggered the conversion of active carbon-hydrogen bonds at the α-position of lignite molecules into active carbon–oxygen single bonds with alcohol-oxygen bonds. I90 and I120 have the highest content of active functional groups, indicating that the oxidation activity of lignite immersed in water for 90–120 days is the highest. This study provides a new method for the quantitative characterization of coal adsorption and has reference value for the study of SC mechanism of water-immersed, air-dried coal in the overlying goaf of close distance coal seam.