Thermal Decomposition Behavior and Kinetic Study of Jamadoba Coal and Its Density Separated Macerals: A Non-Isothermal Approach

Abstract

This kinetic study focuses on determining the thermal gravimetric profile of a particular grade of Indian sub-bituminous coal. A thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA-1000) was employed to investigate the thermal behavior and extract the kinetic parameters of Jamadoba coal and its corresponding density separated macerals. The weight loss was measured in air atmosphere. The coal samples used in this study were obtained from Jamadoba mines, Jharkhand. Samples of 35 mg and 200 μm mean size were subjected to synthetic air atmospheres (21% O2). Heating rates of 2, 5 and 7°C/min were applied until the temperature reached 1400°C, which was kept constant until burnout. Low heating rate was preferred so that devolatilization occurs prior to ignition and combustion. Derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) analysis method was applied to measure the weight changes and rates of weight loss used for calculating the kinetic parameters. The activation energy (Ea) and pre-exponential factor were obtained from model-free methods by applying non-isothermal thermogravimetry analysis.