The Effects of sodium and alkalinity on the microcrystalline structure and the steam gasification performance of Shengli lignite

Abstract

The pyrolysis of Shengli lignite (SL-Raw) and sodium-based anion doped into coal samples (SL-NaOH, SL-Na2CO3 and SL-NaNO3) was analyzed by investigating the effects of sodium and alkalinity on the differences in crystallite structure of chars by XRD, Raman, XPS and FT-IR. The steam gasification of chars was performed in a fixed-bed reactor. The char gasification results showed that sodium and alkalinity have a catalytic effect on the char reactivity, and the chars have better activity when the sodium compounds are more alkaline. The XRD and Raman results showed that NaNO3, Na2CO3 and NaOH inhibited the growth of the aromatic ring structure, and the carbon microcrystalline structure of the chars was destroyed due to sodium atoms during pyrolysis. The XPS and FT-IR results indicated that the phenolic hydroxyl (COH) was converted into sodium phenolate (CONa), and the reactivity of chars was better.