THE FTIR INVESTIGATION TO CHARACTERIZE OF FUNCTIONAL GROUPS IN BITUMINOUS COAL
H. H. Ahmad, A. Nurdradjat, H. Johanes, A. D. Hariyanto
Abstract
The study of chemical functional groups in coal using the methods of an FTIR investigation has been carried out on five samples of bituminous coal from Bintuni Basin in West Papua, Indonesia. The FTIR spectra fitting results reveal that the aromatic chains of Steenkool Coals (SC) were dominated compared to aliphatic and oxygen-bearing. The aromatic SC’s molecular structures are mainly C=C and C-H followed by -CH. The oxygen-bearing SCs are mainly - C-O-C; and contain a small amount of C=O. The -CH2- is mainly in aliphatic SC. The apparent aromaticity (fa), Hal/Ha, (R/Cu), and other semi-quantitative parameters from the compared FTIR data indicated that the aromatic is increased with a decrease in aliphatic and oxygen-containing groups. The potential for spontaneous combustion resulting from the bituminous coal of the SC is relatively small, as more aromatic and aliphatic functional groups are detected than the oxygen-bearing functional groups.