IN THE PROCESSING OF SOLIDS, RAPID METHODS ARE NEEDED TO DETERMINE ORGANIC AND MINERAL PARAMETERS WHICH CAN BE RELATED TO PROCESS BEHAVIOR.

IN THE PROCESSING OF SOLIDS, RAPID METHODS ARE NEEDED TO DETERMINE ORGANIC AND MINERAL PARAMETERS WHICH CAN BE RELATED TO PROCESS BEHAVIOR. THIS PROPOSAL SUGGESTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOACOUSTIC FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED (PA-FT-IR) SPECTROSCOPY FOR ON-LINE MONITORING OF FOSSIL FUEL FEEDSTOCKS AND PROCESS STREAM SOLIDS FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: (A) FT-IR TECHNIQUES HAVE RECENTLY BEEN DEVELOPED WHICH ALLOW A RAPID AND COMPREHENSIVE ORGANIC AND MINERAL ANALYSIS ON FOSSIL FUEL SOLIDS USING KBR PELLET SAMPLES, (B) ADVANCES HAVE BEEN MADE IN RELATING CONVERSION BEHAVIOR TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF FEEDSTOCKS AS DETERMINED BY FT-IR (C) RECENT ADVANCES IN PA-FT-IR SPECTROSCOPY DEMONSTRATED THAT GOOD QUALITY SPECTRA FOR COAL AND OTHER HYDROCARBON SOLIDS CAN BE OBTAINED RAPIDLY WITH LITTLE OR NO SAMPLE PREPARATION AND (D) THE FT-IR IS INHERENTLY A RUGGED INSTRUMENT ADAPTABLE TO ON-LINE MONITORING. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I PROPOSAL IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNIQUES FOR SAMPLE PREPARATION, SPECTRAL ACQUISITION AND DATA ANALYSIS WHICH WILL ALLOW THE DETERMINATION OF QUANTITATIVE PA-FT-IR SPECTRA AND DATA REDUCTION PROCEDURE TO DETERMINE ORGANIC AND MINERAL COMPOSITIONS. IF PHASE I IS SUCCESSFUL THE PHASE II PROGRAM WILL DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENT FORROUTINE ON-LINE ANALYSIS.