Coal of the second freshness: NISU MISiS has developed a new approach to assessing the quality of coal fuel

    The properties of coal mined change over time, which greatly affects the quality of coal fuel, increases the cost of electricity, and leads to additional environmental damage. In addition, coal sometimes spontaneously ignites. A correct assessment of the properties of coal fuel, as well as the risk of spontaneous combustion, are just a few applied aspects of the work performed by a team of scientists from the MISiS National Research Technological University under the guidance of Professor Svetlana Epstein.

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    Scientists of NUST “MISiS” have developed new approaches to studying the mechanism of coal oxidation, which can significantly affect the Russian coal industry, pricing in the coal market, as well as the ecology of coal regions. One approach is based on the use of a modified method of thermogravimetry (thermal analysis) in the analysis of samples in air and in an inert atmosphere. The data obtained will help to correctly determine the state of coal during its extraction, storage and use, which will increase the efficiency of coal fuel use and thereby reduce the damage from its use. The fact is that, depending on the terms and conditions of storage, the amount of heat received per ton of fuel can decrease by an average of 20% (for brown coal), which seriously increases energy costs and regional ecology.

    A research paper published in the authoritative journal Fuel , which leads to the Elsevier publishing group.

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    The authors of the article note that this publication is only part of a large comprehensive study of the structure, properties and behavior of coal throughout the cycle: from mining to use. “ Our laboratory has been engaged in coal research for more than ten years ,” says Svetlana Epstein, Ph.D., head of the laboratory “Physics and Chemistry of Coals”, professor . -The main ideology of our work is to develop new approaches to assessing the structure and quality of fossil coals to search for new technologies for their non-fuel processing, new methodological approaches to assessing the safety of development, use of coal, as well as to assessing possible promising areas of coal use (in particular, to obtain of which are new materials). Work is carried out both under business contracts and through public funding. In particular, within the framework of the Federal target program “Research and Development”, we have implemented two projects: to study the impact of coal oxidation on safety (in terms of spontaneous combustion) and on the preservation of quality indicators of coal products during storage and transportation - projects 14.B37.21.0655 and 14.575.21.0062. These are two applied aspects of our work. In addition, new fundamental scientific approaches to assessing the tendency of coal to oxidize using new methods were considered in the works . ”

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    Coal is perhaps the most heterogeneous mineral. In addition, as the study showed, for the weeks and months (sometimes up to six months) that the extracted fuel spends in the warehouses of the thermal power plant between production and use, its characteristics change. Therefore, for companies purchasing coal on the market, the correct assessment of the product from the point of view of its safety in terms of oxidation tendency is very important. New methods will help develop a classification of coal products, which will make the coal market more civilized and transparent.

    "Research at the Physics and Chemistry of Coals research laboratory is of great importance for the Russian coal industry , ”commented the work of scientists, Rector of NUST“ MISiS ”Alevtina Chernikova . - Based on the research conducted in the laboratory, more than 25 national and interstate standards in the field of solid mineral fuels and activated carbons have already been developed. The Laboratory “Physics and Chemistry of Coals” under the guidance of Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences Svetlana Epstein is one of the university’s leading laboratories dealing with the topic of waste management of extraction and processing of mineral raw materials, including by order of the leading coal corporations of Russia . ”

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    Svetlana Abramovna Epstein

    Help: Epstein Svetlana Abramovna. Doctor of technical sciences, professor. Head of the Research and Testing Laboratory "Physics and Chemistry of Coals" of the Mining Institute of NUST "MISiS". She graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Institute of Chemical Technology (1983), defended her thesis for the degree of candidate of chemical sciences at the Institute of Combustible Minerals (1993), doctor of technical sciences (2010). Research interests: coal structure, coal spontaneous combustion, petrography, mechanical properties of coal.

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