Residues from coal conversion and utilization: advanced mineralogical characterization and disposed byproduct diagenesis

摘要

The goals of the project are two-fold: (1) to upgrade semi-quantitative X-ray diffraction (QXRD) methods presently used in analyzing complex coal combustion by-product (CCB) systems, with the quantitative Rietveld method, and (2) to apply this method to a set of by-product materials that have been disposed or utilized for a long period (5 years or more) in contact with the natural environment, to further study the nature of CCB diagenesis. The project is organized into three tasks to accomplish these two goals: (1) thorough characterization of a set of previously analyzed disposed by-product materials, (2) development of a set of CCB-specific protocols for Rietveld QXRD, and (3) characterization of an additional set of disposed CCB materials, including application of the protocols for Rietveld QXRD developed in Task 2.