Petrologic Characteristics and Chemical Structures of Macerals in a Suite of Thermally Altered Coals by Confocal Raman

[Image: see text] Thermally altered coals affect the safety and efficiency of coal mining and utilization, but most studies of thermally altered coal have only focused on the whole coal instead of on different macerals. Thermally altered coals have complex and special maceral components; not only intrinsic macerals but also newly formed macerals such as pyrolytic carbon can be observed. The shape and texture of intrinsic macerals also change significantly after thermal alteration, especially for vitrinite. Therefore, employing an in situ testing method to study the macerals in thermally altered coals is necessary. Herein, a confocal Raman imaging microscope was used. Results show that macerals become coked in samples adjacent to the sill, and circular mosaic texture is the most common texture observed in this series of samples. In samples away from the sill, inertinite is isotropic, while in samples closest to the sill, anisotropic inertinite can be found. The Raman spectra of inertinite and vitrinite (mosaic texture) are significantly different. For vitrinite, the D and G peaks are closer, and the height of D is lower than for inertinite. The Raman spectra of thermally altered coal include 13 bands after curve fitting. Curved-fitted results show that for vitrinite, polycondensation provides the nucleation of mesophase spheres, and newly formed aromatics take part in the growth of mesophase spheres. However, for inertinite, excessive amorphous carbon and substituents, such as aromatic alkyl and aryl–alkyl ether, form cross-linked structures and hinder the anisotropic development of inertinite.