Overview of the Preparation and Analytical Methods of Peat at the University of North Dakota Energy Research Center

摘要

In 1979, the US DOE funded a State Peat Resource Grant Program in which 14 states have participated. Grand Forks Energy Technology Center contributed to the program by providing program management and established a contract with the University of North Dakota Engineering Experiment Station to provide personnel to perform chemical analysis on 2401 peat samples provided by 13 of the participating states. This work provides a uniform chemical data base on the peat samples. These analyses, which are nearly complete, have been done in the laboratory facilities at GFETC (now the University of North Dakota Energy Research Center) and are the topic of this paper. The analytical data base consists of proximate, ultimate, and Btu values. The elemental analyses have been done on commercial C, H, N, and S analyzers. Details of the techniques are given in the paper as well as a discussion of the experimental difficulties encountered. Laboratory personnel are in the process of evaluating the methods used in the program. The original guidelines for the program were that the samples be treated as much like coal samples as possible. (ERA citation 08:050581)