The effect of sulphur present in coal on the course of its reduction in the potassium/liquid ammonia system

Two low-rank coals of high content of sulphur and low sulphur content ortho coking coal were chosen as the subject of study. The process of reduction w as carried out twice, for raw and demineralised, by the Radmacher method, c oals. Elemental and spectral analyses of the initial coals and the products obtained from them were made. The solubility of the coals in dichlorometha ne and the average molecular weight of the extracts were determined. The de gree of conversion of the coals studied to the products soluble in dichloro methane was found to be surprisingly high regarding the low-rank coals. A h ypothesis is put forward that the high content of sulphur in low-rank coals can endow them with certain properties typical of coking coals. (C) 1999 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.