Synergistic Catalytic Effect of Inherent Minerals and Specific Structures on the Steam Gasification of Lignite and Anthracite

Abstract

ABSTRACT The synergistic effects of inherent minerals and specific organic structures in coal on steam gasification were comprehensively investigated herein. The steam gasification of lignite, anthracite, and their corresponding demineralized samples were tested by a laboratory fixed-bed micro reactor system. Lignite showed much higher gasification reactivity than anthracite, which led to a significant reduction of gasification temperature. Moreover, it was proved that minerals could promote the release rate of H2 but decrease the release rate of CO, which resulted in high H2/CO of the syngas for lignite, but the effects of minerals on the steam gasification of anthracite were not so obvious. These gasification behaviors could be attributed to the existence of inherent minerals in lignite, which indicated that inherent minerals had a remarkable catalytic effect on steam gasification, but limited impact on that of anthracite. The inherent minerals and organic structures of coal were characterized by scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy (Raman). The results showed that interactions of inherent minerals with oxygen-containing functional groups such as carboxyl functional groups and the more amorphous carbon structures in lignite played a key role in the catalytic effect during steam gasification.