COMPLEX MASS-SPECTROMETRIC AND DERIVATOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION OF THE INITIAL STAGES OF THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF COALS.

The capacity of coals for undergoing transformations on heating to not very high temperatures and on mechanical treatment has been repeatedly reported by workers and the value of these phenomena for elucidating features of the molecular structure of the organic substance of coals for solving certain problems of their technological processing has been shown. In this paper results are given of a complex mass-spectrometric and derivatographic investigation of the composition of the volatile products and the properties of the solid residues formed in the initial stages of the thermal and mechanical treatment of Donets gas and coking coals. Extensive experimental data are tabulated and discussed. It is demonstrated that the liberation of volatile products in the mechanical treatment of the coals investigated and on their vacuum treatment without heating is the result of the desorption of gases from the porous structure of the coals. The heating of coals in vacuum to 100-150 degree C leads to appreciable changes in their organic matter, which is shown both in the composition of the volatile products formed and in the size and nature of the thermal effects.