Distribution of mineral species in different coal seams of Talcher coalfield and its transformation behavior at varying temperatures

Abstract

Mineral phase characterization and thorough understanding of its transformation behavior during combustion are imperative to know the potential utilization of coal in the thermal industries. The primary objective of this work is to analyze the quality of Indian Coals and obtain their mineral species-specific information at different depths. The samples were obtained from Talcher Coalfield, Odisha, India. Coal from four seam sections in the Talcher coalfield, India are mainly high ash coal (>50 %) and volatile matter deceases along with the seam depth. XRD results show that the major mineral phases present in the coal are quartz and kaolinite. Siderite, illite, and anatase were found in minor quantities. It has been observed that the clay minerals (kaolinite, silimanite, illite) decompose at higher temperature and traces of dolomite, mullite, hematite etc. are formed during the process of combustion. Among the four seams (M2, M12, M24 and M43) studied, ash of M43 has high Al2O3%, TiO2% and K2O% content and low SiO2%, CaO% and MgO% content. High acid-to-base ratios contributed to high ash fusion temperatures (IDT > 1500 °C) and low slagging potential of the coals studied. Relatively low fouling index (<0.3) was estimated for all the coal seams studied. Furthermore, thermodynamic modeling software, FactSage, have been used to envision the mineral phase transformations that take place between 800 and 1500 °C during coal combustion.