PCS-469
Application of a spectral deconvolution technoque to coal FT-IR spectra
Kroo, E.; Bonanno, A.S.; Serio, M.A.; Solomon, P.R.
Proceedings, 7th International Conference on Coal Science
1993
II
473-476
This work demonstrates application of a simple curve-resolving technique to the
3000-3340 and 1474-1800 cm[sup -1] regions of FT-IR spectra for a wide range of coal
ranks and modified coals to obtain new information on coal structure not available by
other techniques. Parameters were set up by combining conventional second derivation
with available literature data and then were applied to the whole set of coal samples to
measure relative concentrations of carboxyl, carbonyl and different H- bonded OH
functionalities. The free carboxyl groups were determined by differentiating H-bonded and
free carbonyls from carboxy carbonyls and carboxylates. A decrease of OH, CO and
carboxyl concentrations with coal rank was shown. A correlation between the strength of
the aromatic [pi] electron-H bonding and the aromatic ring breathing band position
(around 1610 cm[sup -1]) was also shown. Our measurements confirm an earlier
suggestion based on NMR data that the H[sub 2]O in the coal matrix can be found in
tightly and loosely bound forms. FT-IR data for Zap (Argonne) coal show the
non-interacting water to be at about 10% moisture content. 22 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.
8. Beulah-Zap, ND (ND)