Lignite, volatile aromatics

Production (Source, Use, Shipment) and Emissions Volatile Aromatics from Coal and Lignite... 

Coals (the plural is deliberately used because coal has no defined, uniform nature or structure) are fossil sources with low hydrogen content. The structure of coals means only the structural models depicting major bonding types and components relating changes with coal rank. Coal is classified, or ranked, as lignite, subbituminous, bituminous, and anthracite. This is also the order of increased aromaticity and decreased volatile matter. The H C ratio of bituminous coal is about 0.8, whereas anthracite has H C ratios as low as 0.2. 

Aromaticity of coal molecules increases with coal rank. Calculations based on several models indicate that the number of aromatic carbons per cluster varies from nine for lignite to 20 for low volatile bituminous coal, and the number of attachments per cluster varies from three for lignite to five for subbituminous through medium bituminous coal. The value is four for low volatile bituminous (21). 

This procedure has now been extended to a series of coals varying in rank from lignite (70% C) to a low volatile bituminous coal (91% C). In addition to determining the amount of aromatic and aliphatic hydrogens, the aromatic group will be further subdivided into monocyclic and polycyclic types. A more... 

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