Comprehensive evaluation and interpretation of mercury intrusion porosimetry data of coals based on fractal theory, Tait equation and matrix compressibility

•Matrix compression proportions in the total mercury intrusion volumes are 46.72–80.41%.•MC and TE methods show superiority in correcting MIP data in different pore ranges.•Good consistency on PSD is observed between corrected MIP and LPN2GA methods.•Strength and pore shape are key factors in pore characterization using MIP method. Accurate characterization of coal pore structure is vital for understanding the mechanism of gas storage and migration. As an effective method for pore evaluation, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) remains questionable without addressing the effects of interparticle voids filling and matrix compression properly. In this study, three intact coal samples with different metamorphic grades, one tectonic coal sample and two activated carbon (AC) samples were selected. Fractal theory was applied to identify the three stages of MIP test and to simulate the interparticle voids volume quantitatively using extrapolation method. Compared with the conventional matrix compressibility (MC) method for MIP data correction, we put forward the semi-empirical Tait equation (TE) method to compensate for the deficiencies of MC method. The results indicate that the simultaneous mercury filling of interparticle voids account for 1.9–3.4% of the total intrusion volumes for coals and 8.3% for AC. However, the proportions of matrix compression could reach 46.72–80.41% for coals and 14.30% for AC. In combination with low pressure N2 gas adsorption (LPN2GA) method, total pore volume (TPV) in the range of 33–320 nm from TE method is in closer proximity to the results using Barret-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) model. Whereas, MC method is superior in correcting MIP data of smaller pore sizes (7–33 nm). Overlapped pore size distributions (PSD) indicate that peak numbers, peak positions and incremental pore volumes of MIP corrected data show good consistency with LPN2GA measurement. For samples of low strength and with abundant ink-bottle shaped pores, it is inappropriate to correct their MIP data.