Abstract
Molecular hydrogen is formed as a result of low temperature (40 °C- 115 °C) weathering of steam (bituminous) coal which occurs during relatively long term storage periods of coal piles. It is observed that formaldehyde is the precursor intermediate (formaldehyde was suggested as one of the ambient temperature oxidation products of coal). The study of the thermal decomposition of formaldehyde in batch reactors has shown that the decomposition reaction occurs only in the presence of oxygen and bituminous coal (the catalyst). The stoichiometric reaction observed, is the coal catalyzed oxidative decomposition of formaldehyde. This is in contrast with the commonly observed chemical behavior of formaldehyde as hydrogen donor upon decomposition to yield carbon monoxide as a product. A possible mechanism by which the coal catalyzed oxidative decomposition of formaldehyde occurs is suggested and discussed in detail.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 775-780 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Fuel |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 1999 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank the R. Bloch Coal Research Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the MINERVA foundation for their support of this work. V.N. would like to thank the Israeli National Coal Supply Co. for financial assistance.
Funding
The authors would like to thank the R. Bloch Coal Research Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the MINERVA foundation for their support of this work. V.N. would like to thank the Israeli National Coal Supply Co. for financial assistance.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Israeli National Coal Supply Co. | |
| R. Bloch Coal Research Center | |
| Ben-Gurion University of the Negev |