Electromagnetic approaches have been applied to improve the combustion and gasification behavior of coal in different branches of industry. The change in reactivity of coal was investigated while it is exposed to an applied magnetic field. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis revealed that magnetic field applied to the coal induces absorption at the wavenumber of 2858 and 2924 cm–1 and enhances the intensity of absorption in the band range between 1407 and 1739 cm–1. The results show that magnetic field alternates the chemical bonds on some spots of coal molecules, which will lead to the improvement of combustion and gasification behavior of coal. In other words, magnetic field has a catalytic effect by lowering activation energy of chemical reactions in which coal is involved. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the combustion behavior of coal which is pre-treated by magnetic field, varied according to the strength of magnetic field. The results showed that ignition temperature of coal sample decreased from 484 ± 1°C to 432 ± 1°C when the sample is subjected to the field strength of 400 kA/m. In total, the reactivity of coal was increased by up to 7% when it is pre-treated. Our findings show that magnetic field has a great potential for intensification of coal combustion and gasification process.
Hong et al. (Wed,) studied this question.