RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COAL CONSTITUTION, THERMOPLASTIC PROPERTIES AND LIQUEFACTION BEHAVIOR OF COALS AND VITRINITE CONCENTRATES FROM THE LOWER KITTANNING SEAM

The main objective of this study was to assemble a base of coal data from a single seam in order to reveal the systematic interrelationships among the chemical and petrographic compositions, and the liquefaction behavior and thermoplastic properties of coal from a single coal seam. The Lower Kittanning seam in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio was selected because of its broad extent and range in composition. The lateral variability of composition within the Lower Kittanning seam in western Pennsylvania was described using data from 41 samples included in the Penn State Coal Sample Bank and 81 samples from the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Trends in the lateral variability of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur contents, volatile matter, ash yields, petrographic composition, and reflectance are presented. These trends in the composition and properties within a single coal seam enabled the areal changes in depositional environment and post-depositional metamorphic changes to be expounded. Four models are presented which can explain the lateral variability.;Three bivariate and two multivariate regression equations were developed for estimating conversion of coals from the Lower Kittanning seam. These equations successfully predicted the liquefaction conversion of an additional 30 coal samples from the eastern coal province.;Microscopic examination of solids remaining after liquefaction of vitrinite concentrates of varying rank from the Lower Kittanning seam provided a record of the optical degradation of vitrinite due to the liquefaction processes.;The liquefaction behavior and thermoplastic properties of any coal would seem to be dependent upon the constitution of the parent coal; however, the petrographic, physical and chemical heterogeneity of coal and complexity of the liquefaction and thermoplasticity processes make a study of the interrelationships extremely difficult. Consequently, a factor analysis was performed on a total of 81 samples of whole coals and vitrinite concentrates from the Lower Kittanning seam, ranging in rank friom high volatile C to low volatile bituminous. This analysis indicated that both liquefaction conversion and some of the measured thermoplastic properties had significant loadings with rank-dependent variables. The content of "reactive" macerals did not group with either liquefaction conversion or parameters of thermoplastic behavior.