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Improving the Storage Stability of Coal Water Slurries Use of a pH-Responsive Thickener

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Abstract

Coal water slurries (CWSs) are considered to be a new form of fuel that can alleviate the environmental and safety issues associated with use of bulk solid fuel. However, CWSs does not always fit into existing solid fuel supply and storage chain. In this study, a novel method to control CWSs viscosity using pH-responsive thickener was proposed, offering the advantages of improved storage stability and on-demand viscosity control, thus allowing CWSs to be used as a c for a variety of applications. This study investigates the effects of additives and pH on the viscosity and storage stability of CWSs. Poloxamer 407, polynaphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde (PNSF), and a copolymer containing pigment-affinic (PA) groups were used as dispersants to lower CWSs viscosity. Xanthan gum, a modified acrylic polymer (MAP), and carbomer were used as thickeners for assessing the storage stability and fluidity of CWSs based on viscosity changes. Optimal viscosity reduction was achieved by the addition of PA. A viscosity of 7000 cP was achieved by the use of carbomer, with small amount comparable to 27.3 wt% of MAP and 22.7 wt% of Xanthan gum. Moreover, the carbomer-containing CWSs exhibited high storage stability in a 360-h stability test, retaining 84.3% of the original baseline coal content. pH-dependent viscosity changes were observed only in carbomer-containing samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement(KAIA) grant funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Grant 21PCHG-C163217-03) and also conducted under the framework of the Research and Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) (C3-2434).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clean Fuel Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34129, Republic of Korea

    Sung Min Yoon, Diyar Tokmurzin, Tae-Young Mun, Ji Hong Moon, Sung Jin Park, Sang Jun Yoon, Jae Goo Lee & Ho Won Ra

  2. Energy Storage Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34129, Republic of Korea

    Jung Hoon Yang

  3. Graduate School of Energy Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34134, Republic of Korea

    Sung Min Yoon, Tae-Young Mun & Kyubock Lee

  4. School of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 02504, Republic of Korea

    Myung Won Seo

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  1. Sung Min Yoon
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Contributions

SMY conceptualization, methodology, visualization, data curation, writing—original draft, implementation of experiments. DT writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. JHY investigation, data curation, visualization. T-YM investigation, data curation, visualization. MWS investigation, data curation, visualization. JHM investigation, data curation, visualization. SJP investigation, data curation, visualization. SJY investigation, data curation, visualization. JGL investigation, data curation, visualization, funding acquisition. KL data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. HWR conceptualization, methodology, visualization, data curation, writing—original draft, implementation of experiments.

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Correspondence to Kyubock Lee or Ho Won Ra.

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Yoon, S.M., Tokmurzin, D., Yang, J.H. et al. Improving the Storage Stability of Coal Water Slurries Use of a pH-Responsive Thickener. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 41, 1449–1456 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-024-00020-9

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