Adsorption performance of calcined coal gangue for ethyl mercaptan

ABSTRACT

The modified coal gangue with different structures were used as the adsorbents which were prepared via the calcination process with the different temperature, time and atmosphere. The calcined coal gangues were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TGA, SEM-Mapping, EDS, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms and XPS. The adsorption performance of calcined coal gangue was evaluated via the adsorption of ethyl mercaptan in methane gas. The results show that the internal structures of coal gangue are affected by the calcination temperature and calcination time. The main components in the coal gangue are changed from kaolin to amorphous metakaolin, and the adsorption activity of coal gangue is greatly improved. The carbon content, especially the content of functional groups C-O and C=O in the coal gangue is changed in the difference of calcination atmosphere. When the calcination temperature, time and air content are set at 600°C, 3 h and 0.1 respectively, the breakthrough adsorption capacity of calcined coal gangue for ethyl mercaptan is 39.32 mg·g⁻¹. The coal gangue modified by a simple calcination method has strong adsorption desulfurization performance and this is a typical example of treating waste by waste.

KEYWORDS:

• Adsorption
• coal gangue
• desulfurization
• ethyl mercaptan
• functional groups

Acknowledgements

We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21271008) and the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 2008085QE194), Research Foundation of the Institute of Environment-friendly Materials and Occupational Health of Anhui University of Science and Technology (Wuhu) (Nos. ALW2020YF01, ALW2020YF09) to this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors state that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kun Yang

Kun Yang obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2017. He is currently an MS student in environmental catalysis at Anhui University of Science and Technology. The main research topic is the preparation and application of coal gangue-based materials.

Lifang Hu

Lifang Hu is a postgraduate supervisor, a training object of “Young Talents Lifting Project” of Anhui University of Science and Technology, and a senior visiting scholar of City University of Hong Kong. The main research direction is environmental catalysis and resource conversion.

Jichao Zhu

Jichao Zhu received a bachelor ‘s degree in engineering in 2016 and a master ‘s and doctor ‘s degree in industrial catalytic engineering in 2021. The main research direction is the preparation and application of nanocomposites.

Zaigang Luo

Zaigang Luo is a postgraduate supervisor, a young and middle-aged academic backbone, and a member of the Chinese Chemical Society. The main research area is synthesis of drug intermediates.

Zhe Zhang

Zhe Zhang obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2016. He is currently an MS student in environmental catalysis at Anhui University of Science and Technology. The main research topic is preparation and application of hydrotalcite based nanomaterials.

Jie He

Jie He is a doctoral tutor, a famous teacher of Anhui Province. The main research directions are inorganic functional materials, catalytic chemistry and new catalytic materials, environmental catalysis, surface and interface physical chemistry, etc.

Xiaoyang Chen

Xiaoyang Chen is a doctoral tutor. From August 2010 to August 2011, he was a visiting scholar at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences in Germany. At present, it is mainly engaged in the teaching and research work in the fields of soil hydrological process, mine environmental restoration and land reclamation, site pollution evaluation and restoration.