X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic investigation of coal

✍ Scribed by David C. Frost; William R. Leeder; Robert L. Tapping

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 647 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(74)90013-1

✦ Synopsis

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to study the carbon, oxygen and sulphur content of several coking coals, a series of sink-float fractions from a highvolatile coking coal, and several inorganic minerals that are commonly found in coals. Single carbon and oxygen peaks were obtained that corresponded to carbon Is orbital and oxygen 1s orbital electron binding energies which are expressed in units of electron volts (eV). Two sulphur 2p (S 2p) peaks were found. The 169-171 eV S 2p peak corresponded to the sulphates resulting from the oxidation of pyrite (Fe!&), while the 163-164 eV S 2p peak was assigned to the iron sulphide compounds such as pyrite or marcasite. No separate organic sulphur peaks were found for coal, because the majority of the organic sulphur peaks are probably overlapped by the inorganic sulphide line at 163-164 eV. The total carbon and sulphur determined using the XPS peak height correlated with the chemical analysis, although the accuracy of the XPS determinations seems to be lower. A possible direct quantitative method for determining the organic sulphur in coal by XPS is discussed.