Mechanism of carbonization of a semianthracite

The carbonization of a semi-anthracite which produced a domain texture of large isochromatic units was studied to elucidate the mechanism for this type of anisotropic development. The observation of a series of its carbonization residues at several temperatures indicated that the anisotropic domains appeared simultaneously and no stepwise growth was observable. However, its co-carbonization with decacyclene or A240 pitch followed the typical mesophase mechanism to give a flow or coarse-mozaic texture which was quite similar to that observed in the coke produced from its quinoline extract. In contrast, the residue after quinoline extraction retained on carbonization the same basic anisotropy as the coal. The structure of the original coal and the coke was studied by topological observation before and after quinoline and gasification etching. The results suggest that during carbonization the preordered structure of the semi-anthracite is slightly rearranged, with the aid of the quinoline-soluble matter, to become more highly ordered giving a domain texture which corresponds to the isochromatic anisotropic regions of its basic anisotropy.