Effect of nanoparticles on the structural changes of char prepared by non-isothermal treatment of Assam coal (India) in nitrogen atmosphere

Structural changes of char prepared by thermal treatment of assam coal in absence and presence of mixed metal oxide nanoparticles (cobalt ferrite) have been studied here. thermogravimetric (tg) analyses were carried out in nitrogen atmosphere up to 250°c at a heating rate of 5°c per minute. tg studies for the raw coal sample shows no weight change in the temperature range 110-245°c suggesting phase transition with the formation of a softening state while there appeared minor weight gain in this temperature range for the mixed metal oxide nanoparticles blended coal sample. the effect of nanoparticles in the thermal treatment of coal is apparent and thus restricting the devolatilization to certain extent,due to the increase of thermally stable components. the chars prepared from these samples at 250°c in inert atmosphere,have been used to compare the changes of structure in the absence and presence of nanoparticles by using ftir studies. modification of structure of the raw coal char by the formation of oxygen containing species and increase of aromaticity in the char of the blended coal sample has been reported here. it appears that the presence of mixed metal oxide nanoparticles has been playing a dominant role in the structural changes of coal during thermal treatment in inert atmosphere. this work has some considerable technological interest.