Studies on the effect of irradiation by accelerated electrons on the hydrogenation reactivity of brown coal

The effects of irradiation pretreatment with the beam of accelerated electr ons on the composition of brown coal, its X-ray structural parameters, tetr ahydrofuran swelling and the reactivity for the hydrogenation into the low molecular and soluble products were studied. The radiation-induced effects were compared to those of conventional different chemical and mechanochemic al pretreatments. The irradiation in the presence of polar ethanol solvent was shown to be the most beneficial pretreatment, which greatly improves th e reactivity of brown coal for the hydrogenation in tetralin solvent. Radia tion effects are discussed in terms of the radiation-induced rearrangements within the supramolecular structure of organic matter of coal. (C) 2001 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.