Plastification of water-coal suspensions by the salts of humic acids

It was shown that the salts of humic acids are effective plasticizers of water-coal suspensions. The plasticizer prepared on the basis of the salts of sulfonated humic acids is suitable for use in water-coal fuel. The ability of the plasticisers for water-coal fuel to cause viscoplastic flow (close to Newtonian flow) of suspensions within a wide ranee of deformation rates (epsilon = 1.8 - 437.4 s(-1)) was suggested as a criterion for plasticiser efficiency. It was established that the plasticizing effect of the salts of humic acids is due to their adsorption on the surface of the particles of coal dispersions, and is dependent on the acid-base properties of a plasticizer solution.