The swelling mechanism when low-carbon alcohol acts in coal

Methanol, ethanol and isopropanol were selected to study the swelling mechanism when low-carbon alcohol solution acted in coal. The change of heat in the process when low-carbon alcohol solution acted in coal was measured by using isothermal titration micro-calorimeter. The result showed that when methanol solution acted in coal, what mainly took place was the process of forming new hydrogen bonds between the methanol molecules and strong electro-negativity functional groups in coal, while the process of fracturing the original hydrogen bonds between coal small molecules and C-C networks took place less. When ethanol solution acted in coal, the amount of forming new hydrogen bonds was equal to that of fracturing original bonds. However, what mainly took place when isopropanol acted in coal was the process of fracturing the original hydrogen bonds between coal small molecules and C-C networks. Consequently, the swelling rate when isopropanol acted was the highest one, reaching to 1.281. Meanwhile, the swelling kinetics that low-carbon alcohol acted in coal was studied, and worked out a formula of coal swelling kinetics, which may well express the rule how coal swelling rate changed with different low-carbon alcohol concentrations by compared its theoretical and experimental value.