In aluminum electrolysis, sodium penetration into carbon cathodes is considered as the main cause of cell failure and efficiency loss, but the detailed mechanism is still not definitely clear. Since the macroscopic properties of material depend on the microscopic structures, a large-scale atomistic model of anthracite cathodes was constructed to represent several important structural characteristics. Combined with Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, the adsorption and diffusion behaviors of sodium were investigated, respectively. The results suggest that sodium adsorption mainly occurs in the larger micro-pores with the range of 10–19 Å, while it accords well with to type-I Langmuir adsorption model. The sodium is found to be preferentially adsorbed in arch-like structures with 5- or 7-membered rings or around heteroatom, especially oxygen. Moreover, the movements of sodium through carbon matrix mainly depend on the continuous diffusive motion while most sodium particles tend to be trapped in voids with small mobility. The calculated transport diffusion coefficient is equal to 6.132 × 10− 10 m2/ s, which is in outstanding agreement with experimental results. This fundamental research would contribute to the understanding of sodium penetration mechanism and the optimization of cathode industry in the future.

The removal characteristics of As and Se ions from aqueous solution by hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTMAB) modified anthracite (HTMAB-AT) were investigated under various conditions of contact time, pH and temperature. When the pH is 6, the zeta potential value of anthracite (AT) is 24 mV and on the other hand, the zeta potential value of the HTMAB-AT is +44 mV. It can be seen that the overall increase of about 60 mV. Increasing the (+) potential value indicates that the surface of the adsorbent had a stronger positive charge, so adsorption for the anion metal was increased. The isotherm data was well described by Langmuir and Temkin isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 7.81 and 6.89 mg/g for As and Se ions from the Langmuir isotherm model at 298 K, respectively. The kinetic data was tested using pseudo first and pseudo second order models. The results indicated that adsorption fitted well with the pseudo second order kinetic model. The mechanism of the adsorption process showed that adsorption was dependent on intra particle diffusion model according to two step diffusion. The thermodynamic parameters(ΔGo, ΔHo, and ΔSo) were also determined using the equilibrium constant value obtained at different temperatures. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was physisorption, and also an endothermic and spontaneous process.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the microwave drying characteristics of mixtures of chemical wastewater sludge (70~90%) and anthracite coal (10~30%) with respect to physical and economic factors such as mass, volume reduction, moisture content, drying rate and heating value when the wastes were dried at different weight mixing ratio and for different microwave irradiation time. The drying process were carried out in a microwave oven, the combined drying process with a 2,450 MHz frequency and 1 kW of power. Maximum dry rates per unit area on the microwave drying of mixtures with chemical wastewater sludge and anthracite coal were 35.5 kg H2O/m2·hr for Cs90-Ac10; 40.1 kg H2O/m2·hr for Cs80-Ac20 and 35.0 kg H2O/m2·hr for Cs70-Ac30. The result clearly indicated that moisture can be effectively and inexpensively removed from the wastes through use of the microwave drying process.

It has been studied that combustion and the production of air pollution of anthracite - bituminous coal blend in a fluidized bed coal combustor. The objects of this study were to investigate mixing characteristics of the particles as well as the combustibility of the low grade domestic anthracite coal and imported high calorific bituminous coal in the fluidized bed coal combustor. They were used as coal samples ; the domestic low grade anthracite coal with heating value of 2,010㎉/㎏ and the imported high grade bituminous coal with heating value of 6,520㎉/㎏. Also, the effects of air flow rate and anthracite fraction on the reaching time of steady state condition have been studied. The experimental results are presented as follows. The time of reaching to steady state was affected by the temperature variation. The steady state time was about 120 minute at 300scfh which was the fastest. It has been found that O_2 and CO_2 concentration were reached steady state at about 100 minute. It has been found that O_2 concentration decreased and CO_2 concentration increased as the height of fluidized bed increased. It was found that splash zone was mainly located from 25㎝ to 35㎝ above distributor. Also, as anthracite fraction increased, the mass of elutriation particles increased, and CO_2 concentration decreased. As air flow rate increased, O_2 concentration decreased and CO_2 concentration increased. Regardless of anthracite fraction and flow rate, the uncombustible weight percentage according to average diameter of elutriation particles were approximately high in the case of fine particles. As anthracite fraction and air flow rate increased, elutriation ratio increased. As anthracite fraction was increased, exit combustible content over feeding combustible content was increased. Regardless of anthracite fraction, size distribution of bed material from discharge was almost constant. Over bed temperature 850℃ and excess air 20%, the difference of combution efficiencies were little. It is estimate that the combustion condition in anthracite-bituminous coal blend combustion is suitable at the velocity 0.3m/s, bed temperature 850℃, the excess air 20%.