Surface-area reduction of coal during slurry-phase chlorinolysis

The effects of reaction time, solvent and temperature on the internal surface area of coal during slurry-phase chlorination were experimentally studied. Areas established using nitrogen as the adsorbate were found to decrease sharply with reaction time, especially in the early stages of the chlorination. Reduction of the surface area decreased with increasing temperature and the effect was independent of the amount of chlorine taken up by the coal. The loss of porosity during chlorination of coal was attributed to swelling of the coal matrix because of the considerable uptake of chlorine.