Physicochemical Characterization of Coal Tar Produced by Pyrolysis of Coal from Garin Maiganga and Shankodi Deposits

Abstract

Coal tar was extracted from Garin Maiganga and Shankodi coals by fixed bed pyrolysis process carried out between 325°C and 600°C at heating rate of 10°C/min and holding time of 30 min. The tar yield determined was 31.95% for Shankodi and 17.02% Garin Maiganga. The obtained coal tar samples have the viscosity of 17.5 and 18.0 cP while the density was 0.9119 and 0.9156 g/cm³ for Garin Maiganga and Shankodi respectively. The solubility of all the coal samples in solvents such as water, benzene, alcohols, acetone, ether and chloroform is similar to the standard tar. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used to analyse the coal tar components. The analysis result showed that the coal tar contained over 48 chemical compounds for Garin Maiganga and over 50 compounds for Shankodi. Benzo and naphthalene compounds were present in all the coal tar samples and these chemicals have wide industrial application.