Experimental study on pyrolysis characteristic of coking coal from Ningdong coalfield

Abstract The thermal decomposition of coal was the essential step of many reactions, thus it was widespread concerned. In order to investigate the behaviors and kinetics of coal pyrolysis, coal samples which obtained from Ningdong coalfield of China were pyrolyzed with a tubular furnace in argon atmosphere at the heating rate of 5 K min−1. The primary gaseous products including CH4, H2, N2, CO, CO2, C2H4 and C2H6 were quantified using a gas chromatogram. It can be seen that with the temperature increasing, the yields of H2 and CO increased, while the others decreased. In order to produce possibly much tar, the optimal temperature was 923 K. The characteristic of pyrolysis kinetics was determined by thermo gravimetric analysis measurement. The Coats–Redfern and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa methods was used to obtain kinetic parameters. The activation energy range of 50–200 kJ mol−1 was determined.