A Kinetic Study of Pyrolysis of a Brown Coal using High Temperature 1H-NMR

Proton magnetic resonance thermal analysis was applied to clarify the thermal behavior of a pale lithotype fraction of Bacchus Marsh brown coal (Victoria in Australia). Isothermal measurements at temperatures 400-450°C revealed three main components: two mobile components and one rigid component. The two mobile components could be distinguished by their rates of decrease mainly due to volatilization, but not by their signal lifetimes in solid echo NMR. The rate constants and activation energies were evaluated for the interconversion processes among these components. From the kinetic data, a model for the pyrolysis of this brown coal was proposed.