Structural Transformations of Coal Components upon Heat Treatment

Oct 17, 2017 - Treatment and Explanation on Their Abnormal Thermal Behaviors ... transformations of these two components upon heat treatment in situ f...
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Structural transformations of coal components on heattreatment and explanation on their abnormal thermal behaviors Shaoqing Wang, Hao Chen, Wei Ma, Penghua Liu, and Zongda Yang Energy Fuels, Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.7b01426 • Publication Date (Web): 17 Oct 2017 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on October 18, 2017

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Structural transformations of coal components on heat-treatment and explanation on their

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abnormal thermal behaviors

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Shaoqing Wang*, Hao Chen, Wei Ma, Penghua Liu, Zongda Yang

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College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology

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(Beijing), D11, Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, P.R China

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Abstract: The two coal components, barkinite and vitrinite, were selected from the same coal,

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Mingshan coal in Southern China. The chemical structural transformations of these two

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components on heat-treatment in situ from 200 to 500 °C were examined by high-resolution

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transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) technique. The physical appearance changes were

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observed by polarized light microscopy with heated stage. At 200 °C, barkinite and vitrinite have

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no clear change in physical appearance. Most of the layers are poorly orientated in chemical

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structure. Rounded-off edge of barkinite particle was observed at 250 °C and that of vitrinite was

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300 °C. The particle sizes were drastically reduced from 450 °C to 500 °C. Massive amount of

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oily material were exuded from the barkinite particle. Meanwhile, the orientation in aromatic layer

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of barkinite and vitrinite was clearly improved. The changes of aromatic size of barkinite and

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vitrinite on heat-treatment were obvious. The naphthalene abundances decreased from 200 °C to

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350°C and increased at the ranges of 400-500 °C. The abundances of naphthalene reached the

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maximum values at 450 °C. The obvious increase of 3×3 fringe and 4×4 fringe at 200-350 °C and

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decrease of at 400-500 °C were shown. The abundances of 2×2 fringe were different. Furthermore,

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Differences existed on the structural changes of barkinite and vitrinite when heating. Firstly,

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barkinite become obvious orientation of the layer at almost 375 °C and vitrinite at 400 °C.

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Secondly, barkinite has bigger naphthalene abundance and lower 2×2 fringe and 3×3 fringe at 1

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450 °C than vitrinite. The differences in chemical structure of barkinite and vitrinite played a

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significant role in investigations for the different thermal behaviors of these two components and

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bark coal.

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Keywords: vitrinite; barkinite; HRTEM; structure; heat

5 6

Hydrogen-rich bark coal is a special coal type, and has potential commercial applications in

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several technologies due to its high hydrogen content and high volatile matter yield.1,2 Bark coal

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was named as a unique coal component-barkinite. Barkinite is included as one of liptinite

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macerals in the Chinese bituminous maceral classification.3 Barkinite is considered to derive from

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the cortex tissue of stem and root of plants in which the cell wall and filling material apparently

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have become impregnated with suberin substances.3 However, it has not yet been recognized as a

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maceral classification by the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP). The

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reason is that the chemical structure of barkinite still remains vague to some extent, which is also

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pointed out in the work of Hower et al.4 Once heated, both bark coal and barkinite have some

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special thermal behaviors: an extensive thermal decomposition and extra-high fluidity.5,6 However,

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the reasons remain unclear. In the maceral composition,

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vitrinite and barkinite. Because of pure barkinite and vitrinite can be successfully separated from

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bark coal,7 so this provide a good way to study the anomalous thermal behaviors of bark coal base

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on the structural transformation of barkinite and vitrinite on heat-treatment.

1, 5, 6

bark coal are mainly composed of

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Structure characterizations of bark coal and barkinite have been discussed using various

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analytical methods, for examples, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR),8,9

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transmitted-light FT-IR microspectroscopy,10-12 time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry 2

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(TOF-SIMS),13 carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR),9,14 ruthenium ion catalyzed

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oxidation,15 and atomic force microscopy.16,17 The noticeable chemical structural characteristic of

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barkinite is rich aliphatic group, especially CH2 group.2,8,9-12 However, the changes of some

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chemical structural parameters of barkinite on heating, at the most extent, are vague, for instance,

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the orientation of aromatic layer, and the distribution of aromatic ring size. This also led to an

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unsatisfactory explanation on the special thermal behaviors of bark coal and barkinite.

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High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has been applied to study

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structural characterization of coal and/or coal tar.18-28 HRTEM is an effective method to discuss

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the distribution of the aromatic layers in coal and coal products18-22 and is also method available to

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observe coal structure.18 Direct observation of layer structure of raw coal using high-resolution

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transmission electron microscopy was introduced by Sharma et al.18 The method proposed by

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Mathews et al.23 was used to assign aromatic size to the extracted HRTEM fringes. In the recent,

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Mathews and co-authors have published some important papers to discuss the application of

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HRTEM method on evaluating coal structure.24-27 Niekerk et al.26 applied the HRTEM method to

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determine the size and distribution of aromatic fringes for inertinite-rich and vitrinite-rich South

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African coals. Based on HRTEM lattice fringe micrographs, the aromatic ring size distribution

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were estimated for Illinois No. 6 Argonne Premium coal. 27 The HRTEM is also used to study coal

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or carbon structure with combination other techniques, for example, X-ray diffraction (XRD).

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Sharma et al.28 made a comparison of structural parameters of phenol formaldehyde resin char

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from XRD and HRTEM techniques and obtained a good agreement between these two techniques.

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The structural transformations of different rank coals18 and coals on heating20 were discussed

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using HRTEM technique. However, the observation of structural transformations of coal on 3

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heat-treatment in situ by HRTEM was rarely studied. In this work, the changes of chemical

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structure of barkinite and vitrinite on heat-treatment in situ with HRTEM were studied.

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Considering the temperature ranges of bark coal being special thermal behaviors are

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200-500 °C, this work focus on the structural transformations of barkinite and vitrinite in this

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temperature range. The aims of this work were (1) to study the structural transformation of

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barkinite and vitrinite on heat-treatment from 200 °C to 500 °C; (2) to discuss the reason why bark

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coal and barkinite have some abnormal thermal behaviors.

8 9 10

2. Samples and experimental 2.1 Samples selection

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Barkinite and vitrinite were selected from B3 coal seam in Mingshan mine, Jiangxi province in

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Southern China. Barkinite and vitrinite were separated first by hand picking. Vitrain band was

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selected to obtain pure vitrinite and durain band for barkinite. The samples were crushed to -18

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mesh to make pellets for determining maceral compositions. Maceral compositions were

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determined according to GB/T 8899-1998 standard.29 Petrographic analysis results show that

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vitrain are 87% vitrinite and the durain are 83% barkinite. For obtaining pure barkinite and

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vitrinite, these two macerals were further separated by density gradient centrifugation (DGC)

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method. The detailed procedure for maceral separation was described in the work of Guo et al.7

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The purities of barkinite-separated (BaS) and vitrinite-separated (VS) are above 95% (Vol. %).

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2.2 HRTEM observation

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HRTEM observations were performed on a 200kV transmission electron microscope (JEOL,

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JEM-2010) with a heating system (electric furnace). BaS and VS were analyzed using HRTEM 4

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method. For each test, sample was first diluted with ethanol and sonificated for 20 min to disperse

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the particles. Sample was sprayed over a silicon nitride film. Individual particles were first

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examined at moderate magnification to find the particle with thin sharp edges and such region

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were then magnified to observe lattice fringes. The samples were heated in situ from the

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temperature range of 200- 500 °C for observing their structural changes with increase of

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temperatures used. The temperature desired was controlled depending on using the conversion

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graph of thermo electromotive force and temperature. In the present study, the detailed HRTEM

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acquisition method proposed by Sharma et al.18 was used.

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2.3 Polarized light microscopy with heat stage

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The experiment was carried out by programmed polarized light microscopy with a heated

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stage (DMLP, Leica Company) and with a high-definition camera (MC-D900U(C). To clearly of

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identify macerals, barkinite and vitrinite were separated first by hand picking. The barkinite and

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vitrinite

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polarized light microscopy with heat stage examination, macerals were then further identified

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according to their shapes. Due to the temperature limitations of the instrument, the temperature

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range used was chosen from room temperature to 500°C. To clearly investigate the change of

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morphology of coal particle when heated, two temperature stages conditions were used: from

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room temperature to 200°C at the heating rate of 10°C /min, and from 200 to 500°C at 5°C /min.

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Nitrogen was used for preventing samples from being oxidized. The figures were analyzed by

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Phmias 2008 Cs version 3.0 software. The detailed information was introduced in the works of

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Wang et al.30

samples

were

ground

to

-80

mesh

and

-100

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mesh,

separately.

Under

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3. Results and discussion

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3.1 Orientation changes with different temperatures

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The HRTEM micrographs of BaS and VS were observed and further converted to binary

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images. The lattice fringe was extracted by hand and its length was determined using image

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analyses. HRTEM images and corresponding skeletonized images of barkinite and vitrinite with

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different temperatures are shown in Figures 1 and 2, separately.

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At 200 °C, most of the layers are curved and poorly orientated. With the increasing of

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temperature, slightly better orientated layers are shown. More layers at 400 °C are parallel to each

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other than that at lower temperatures, and more layers also can be seen as forming stacks. After

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this temperature until 500°C, the number of aromatic layers in stacks increased and the orientation

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in aromatic layer was obviously improved.

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From Figures 1 and 2, the two images show a striking difference in the orientation of the layers

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at 200 °C. The layers in Figure 1 are less in orientation, which indicated that barkinite has higher

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disordered in structure than vitrinite. A similar result has been obtained by Wang et al.17, 31 when

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barkinite was studied by Raman spectroscopy and Atomic force microscopy techniques.

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Regardless, with the temperature increased, barkinite become the orientation of the layer more

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quickly than vitrinite, namely, barkinite is 375 °C and vitrinite is 400 °C. This is related to

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barkinite has a rich in aliphatic group in the chemical structure, especially CH2 group.2, 8, 10-12 The

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aliphatic groups are easily decomposed when heated, as shown in the previous works6, and

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relative aromatic group increase and form stacks, just shown in Figures 1 and 2.

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3.2 Length distribution of aromatic size with different temperatures

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The method of aromatic size assigned for extracted fringe was introduced by Mathews et al.23 6

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This method assumed that larger aromatic fringes are in the shape of parallelogram. Some lengths

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(The maximum, minimum, and mean) of a series of parallelogram-shaped aromatic fringes

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ranging from naphthalene to 8×8 aromatic rings were calculated using molecular modeling (Table

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2).26 However, considering the length of the aromatic fringe is dependent on the carbon ring

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catenation and angle of viewing, the mean value was used to assign an aromatic structure to each

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fringe (Table 1). In this work, aromatic parallelogram for each fringe was assigned according to

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the size of mean value. For instance, all fringes between 3.0 Å and 5.4 Å were assigned to

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naphthalene and fringes between 5.5 Å and 7.4 Å were assigned to 2×2 aromatic sheets. All

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fringes smaller than 3 Å were assumed to be noise and ignored. The size distribution of HRTEM

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lattice fringe micrographs of barkinite and vitrinite are also presented in Figures 1(c) and 2(c),

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respectively. The aromatic fringe distributions of barkinite and vitrinite from 200 to 500 °C were

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calculated and shown in Figure 3 and 4, respectively.

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At the beginning, 200 °C, both barkinite and vitrinite are rich in naphthalene abundance. With

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temperature was gradually raised to 350 °C, the decrease in naphthalene abundance and obvious

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increase of 3×3 fringe and 4×4 fringe. But the change of 2×2 fringe between barkinite and vitrinite

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in this temperature range is different. The abundance of 2×2 fringe in barkinite increase and that

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decrease in vitrinite. After 350 °C, for barkinite and vitrinite, naphthalene abundances increase

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again and reach the maximum values at 450 °C, and then slightly decrease at 500 °C. The decrease

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in 4×4 fringe and almost no change in 2×2 fringe were observed. The abundance of 3×3 fringe

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decrease during 400-450 °C and increase at 500 °C. Vitrinite has a plastic stage during 400-500 °C.

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Bark coal also has a strong fluidity during this temperature range.5 Most of aliphatic groups and

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most oxygen, at this stage, have disappeared.32 7

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At the same temperature, barkinite and vitrinite are similar in their distribution of aromatic

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fringes. For both these two samples, three fringes show greatest abundance, namely, naphthalene,

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2×2 fringes and 3×3 fringes, followed by 4×4 fringes and 5×5 fringes, and others three fringes are

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the least: 6×6 fringes, 7×7 fringes, and 8×8 fringes. However, barkinite has a higher abundance of

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naphthalene than vitrinite as well as lower aromatic fringes than barkinite, for instance, 3×3

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fringes, 4×4 fringes and 5×5 fringes, which indicates that vitrinite is more aromatic and

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polycondensed than barkinite.

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3.3 Observation of physical appearance changes when heated

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The physical appearance changes of vitrinite when heated were shown in Figure 5. The overall

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size and shape of coal particle are not greatly changed when heating to 200 °C. The temperature

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was almost 250 °C, white materials of outer edge of coal particle was produced. At 300 °C,

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slightly rounded-off edges were observed. The temperature was raised to 370 °C, rounded-off

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edges increased and the particle size began to become smaller. These changes still continued even

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when the temperature was up to 500 °C. Rounded-off edge was accelerated at 400°C and the

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particle size was drastically reduced from 450 °C to 500 °C. Meanwhile, Flow state of coal

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particle was observed.

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Figure 5 also shows the physical appearance changes of barkinite when heated. The shape of

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barkinite particle was obviously unchanged at around 200 °C. However, when temperature was

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increased to 250 °C, rounded-off edges of barkinite particle was happened. The edge became dark

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at 300 °C. Yellow trim of barkinite particle was produced and its range gradually increased at

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400 °C or above. When the temperature reached to 450 °C, whole edge of coal particle was

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rounded-off and the sizes of coal particle were reduced. Flow state of coal particle was happened. 8

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Massive amount of oily material were exuded from the barkinite particle and tarnished the particle

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edge at 500 °C.

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Comparing the changes of physical structure of barkinite and vitrinite, the temperature of

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rounded-off of barkinite began at 250 °C and that of vitrinite is 300 °C. This is a similar result

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obtained from HRTEM, as shown in section 3.1. Therefore, the changes of physical appearance

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(shape, size, and color) of barkinite and vitrinite when heated are relative of their chemical

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structure changes with heating. The rounded-off of coal particle possible results from the increase

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of orientation of layers in chemical structure. The sizes of molecules and their alignment possible

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lead to the change of size of coal particle, which indicated from the distribution of length with

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increasing of temperature, just as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

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It should be pointed out that the temperature used is the range of temperature, but not a strict

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temperature point, because barkinite particle was quickly reacted when heating, especially at

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temperature ranges 300-500 °C. Barkinite began a thermal decomposition at almost 350°C, and

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the thermal reactions continued to 550 °C. Similar results were obtained from the results of

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thermogravimetric analysis of barkinite.5, 6 Besides, the flow state and oily material of barkinite

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and vitrinite were observed from 450 to 500 °C, this is not to say that no oily material was formed

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below 450 °C, only because the extensive oily material was formed at the range of 450-500 °C

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and was clearly noticeable under the microscope.

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3.4 Understanding of special thermal behaviors of barkinite and bark coal

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Some special thermal behaviors of barkinite, vitrinite, and bark coal were discussed in some

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previous works.5, 6, 33 Barkinite, vitrinite, and bark coal have intensive thermal decomposition,32

22

and bark coal has an extra-high Gieseler thermoplastic property: the values of the maximum 9

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fluidity exceeded 180,000 dial divisions per minute (ddpm).5 This is certainly related to chemical

2

composition and chemical structure of bark coal and barkinite, as discussed in other papers.2

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Table 2 shows some critical temperatures of thermal behaviors of barkinite, vitrinite and bark

4

coal. The temperatures of maximum volatile matter loss (Tmax) of barkinite and vitrinit are almost

5

the same, around 450 °C. However, the maximum rate of mass loss of barkinite is bigger than that

6

of vitrinite. According to the results of HRTEM, naphthalene abundances in aromatic size of

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barkinite and vitrinite are richer than 3×3 fringe and 4×4 fringe at 450 °C. Furthermore, barkinite

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has a bigger intensity of naphthalene than vitrinite. On the other hand, the abundances of 3×3

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fringe and 4×4 fringe of barkinite are less than those of vitrinite at this temperature. In the

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temperature ranges of 300-500°C, the broken of the amorphous materials weakly bonded to

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aromatic layers were reacted, such as the aliphatic side chains and oxygen-containing functional

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groups.34 Barkinite has high aliphatic groups 2,8,10-12 and it is easily decomposed. Large amount of

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the volatile matters (such as CH4, CO2, H2O, etc) are released.6 Meanwhile, with increasing of

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temperature, aromatization in chemical structure of barkinite and vitrinite enhanced. In 400-550°C,

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the enormous free radicals were produced because bark coal has super-high fluidity.5 The relative

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higher molecules aromatic fringe, 3×3 fringe and 4×4 fringe, decomposed into small molecules

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aromatic fringe, for examples, naphthalene, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The results of flash

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pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) also show that the pyrolysates of

19

barkinite are mainly characterized by the presence of alkylbenzenes, alkylnaphthalenes, and

20

phenanthrene [unpublished]. Therefore, the anomalous thermal behaviors of barkinite and vitrinite

21

are related to the distribution of aromatic size in chemical structure, especially naphthalene

22

abundance. 10

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Bark coal has super-high Giesler fluidity.5 The temperatures of maximum fluidity of bark coals

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concentrate on about 440 °C (Table 2). The γ-compound theory suggested that low molecular

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weight products that play an important role in thermoplasticity are derived from the coal chemical

4

network.35 The development of the thermoplasticity of coal involves the chemical and physical

5

changes in the coal structure. The plasticity of coal can be seen from the structural changes

6

because plastic coal develops anisotropic structure on heat-treatment.20 The anisotropic structure

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was termed as molecular-orientated domains by Oberlin et al.36, 37 Barkinite and vitrinite show the

8

development of ordered structure at 250 °C and 300 °C, separately. At about 400 °C, bark coal

9

begin to soften (Table 2). Softening of coal takes place in this temperature ranges by the extensive

10

molecular disruption and considerable evolution of volatile matter.34 For vitrinite, stacking in

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chemical structure was produced at 400 °C, and for barkinite, this characterization is more clear.

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When temperature is increased to around 450 °C, both these two coal components have obvious

13

stacking in structure, and bark coals also reach the maximum fluidity values at that temperature

14

range.

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On the other hand, the abnormal thermal behaviors of barkinite and bark coal are also related to

16

their rich in aliphatic structures concentration, especially CH2 group.2,8,10-12 The results of

17

Py-GC/MS also showed that a strong dominance of the C7-C29 n-alkane/alkene series in the

18

pyrolysated of barkinite [unpublished]. These aliphatic functional groups are easily decomposed

19

when heated, as indicated from the results of thermogravimetry coupled with mass spectrometry

20

and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG/MS/FTIR). 6 Also because of barkinite’s higher

21

aliphatic content, barkinite has higher disordered in structure than vitrinite at 200°C. With

22

increasing of temperature, the orientation of the layer of barkinite become more quickly than 11

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vitrinite, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

2

4. Conclusions

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The structural transformations of barkinite and vtirinite with heating in situ from 200-500 °C

4

were examined by HRTEM. The physical appearance changes of these two coal components when

5

heated were observed by polarized light microscopy with a heated stage. The changes obtained in

6

structure on heat-treatment were used to further discuss the special thermal behaviors of bark coal

7

and barkinite.

8

The overall size and shape of barkinite and vitrinite were greatly influenced by temperatures

9

used. At 200 °C, there is no clear change in physical appearance for both barkinite and vitrinite.

10

Rounded-off edge of barkinite particle was observed at 250 °C and that of vitrinite was 300 °C.

11

After this temperature, rounded-off edge was accelerated at 400 °C and the particle size was

12

drastically reduced from 450 °C to 500 °C. Flow states of these two coal component were

13

observed, and massive amount of oily materials were exuded from barkinite particle.

14

For barkinite and vitrinite, at 200 °C, most of the layers are curved and poorly orientated.

15

Barkinite has higher disordered in structure than vitrinite. When the temperature is up to 375 °C,

16

barkinite become obvious orientation of the layer, which is early than vitrinite, 400 °C. After

17

400 °C, the orientation in aromatic layer of these two components was obviously improved.

18

The chemical structures of barkinite and vitrinite were significantly changed on heat-treatment

19

from 200 to 500 °C. Barkinite and vitrinite show the decreases in naphthalene abundance and

20

obvious increases in 3×3 fringe and 4×4 fringe at 200-350 °C. Naphthalene abundance increase

21

from 400 to 500 °C and reach the maximum values at 450 °C. Regardless, the abundance of 2×2

22

fringe increase for barkinite from 200 to 350 °C and that decrease for vitrinite. No great change in 12

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2×2 fringe abundance at 400-500 °C was observed. The distributions of aromatic size in chemical

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structure of barkinite and vitrinite, especially naphthalene abundance, have great influence on the

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special thermal behaviors of barkinite and bark coal.

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Acknowledgement

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The authors gratefully thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financial

7

support (Research Project No. 41102097; 41472132). The authors also wish to acknowledge Jin Ju

8

for her useful suggestions. We would like to express our appreciation to Peking University for

9

providing the measurement of HRTEM.

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References

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[1]

Hsieh, C.Y. Bull. Geol. Soc. China 1933, 12(4), 469-490.

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[2]

Wang, S.Q.; Tang, Y.G.; Schobert, H.H.; Jiang, D.;Guo, X.; Huang, F.;Guo, Y.N.; Su,, Y.F. Fuel 2014, 126, 116-121.

14 15

[3]

China. 2001, p.1-7(Chinese).

16 17

[4]

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Table 1 Assignment of parallelogram-shaped aromatic fringes from the HRTEM fringe data26 Aromatic sheet Naphthalene 2×2 3×3 4×4 5×5 6×6 7×7 8×8

Mean length(Å) 3.9 6.0 9.3 12.7 16.0 19.4 22.8 26.1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 16

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Grouping(Å) 3.0-5.4 5.5-7.4 7.5-11.4 11.5-14.4 14.5-17.4 17.5-20.4 20.5-24.4 24.5-28.4

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Table 2 Some critical temperatures of thermal behaviors of barkinite, vitrinite, and bark coals Thermogravimetric analysis Tmax (°C)

MR(%/°C)

Ts(°C)

MFT(°C)

Tr(°C)

LP5

424

0.86

407

441

481

LP-2

5

411

0.52

390

443

484

LP-4

5

415

1.11

412

436

-

33

Lp5-1

450

0.40

-

-

-

33

454

1.08

-

-

-

33

453

0.39

-

-

-

Barkinite Vitrinite 2 3

Gieseler fluidity

Coal ID#

Tmax, temperature of the maximum volatile matter loss; MR, the maximum rate of mass loss ; Ts, softening temperature; MFT, the temperature of maximum fluidity; Tr, resolidification temperature

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 17

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Figure Captions

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Fig. 1 HRTEM images and the corresponding skeletonized images of barkinite

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Fig. 2 HRTEM images and the corresponding skeletonized images of vitrinite

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Fig. 3 Aromatic fringe distributions for barkinite with different temperatures

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Fig. 4 Aromatic fringe distributions for vitrinite with different temperatures

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Fig. 5 Physical feature changes of barkinite (Ba) and vitrinite (V) with different temperatures

7

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Fig. 1 HRTEM images and the corresponding skeletonized images of barkinite ((a,b,c) 200°C; (d,e,f) 250°C; (g,h,i) 300°C; (j,k.l) 350°C; (m,n,o) 400°C;(p, q,r) 450°C; (s,t,u) 500°C)

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1 2 3 4

Fig. 2 HRTEM images and the corresponding skeletonized images of vitrinite ((a,b,c) 200°C; (d,e,f) 250°C; (g,h,i) 300°C; (j,k.l) 350°C; (m,n,o) 400°C;(p, q,r) 450°C; (s,t,u) 500°C)

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Fig. 3 Aromatic fringe distributions for barkinite with different temperatures

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Fig. 4 Aromatic fringe distributions for vitrinite with different temperatures

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2 3

Fig. 5 Physical feature changes of barkinite (Ba) and vitrinite (V) with different temperatures

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