Study of Butylated Hydroxytoluene Inhibiting the Coal Oxidation at Low Temperature: Combining Experiments and Quantum Chemical Calculations

[Image: see text] In order to cut off the chain reaction in the process of coal oxidation at low temperature (COLT), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was used as an inhibitor to explore its inhibition effect and mechanism. In this paper, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and gas production of COLT experiments were conducted to compare the inhibited coal sample (BHT-Coal) with the raw coal. The results showed that BHT can effectively inhibit the formation of active free radicals, reduce the content of active alkoxy, carbonyl, and hydroxyl groups, increase the production temperature of CO, CO(2), and C(2)H(4), and reduce the concentration. The crossing point temperature increased from 132.3 to 157.4 °C, indicating that BHT can reduce the spontaneous combustion tendency of the raw coal. To explore the inhibition mechanism of BHT on COLT, five typical active free-radical models were established, and their active sites, active bonds, and thermodynamic parameters were calculated according to the density functional theory. The results showed that the highly active H atoms of the phenolic hydroxyl group in BHT can combine with active free radicals to generate stable compounds, and the activation energy of each reaction is small, which can occur under normal temperature and pressure. The inhibition mechanism of BHT is to reduce the concentration of the free radicals, so as to weaken the chain reaction strength during the COLT. This study provides a reference for the development and utilization of inhibitors.