Effect of 1-Butyl-3-MethylImidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide on spontaneous combustion of bituminous coal

Coal spontaneous combustion (CSC) has been endangering the safety of the coal industry. Spontaneous combustion of coal may lead to coal seam combustion and gas explosions in coal mines, causing a lot of damage. At the same time, CSC will produce a large amount of carbon dioxide, which seriously endangers the ecological environment. Therefore, what reduces the spontaneous combustion of coal is necessary. Ionic liquid (IL) is a new kind of green organic solvent. It has the characteristics of good stability and can be used as a flame retardant for CSC. In this study, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Bmim[Ntf2]) was selected as the flame retardant of bituminous coal spontaneous combustion, where thermal stability of bituminous coal treated by Bmim[Ntf2] and raw bituminous coal was studied by the simultaneous thermogravimetric analyzer. The apparent activation energy was calculated by the FWO method. The decomposition gas products of bituminous coal and bituminous coal treated with Bmim[Ntf2] were analyzed by Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometer to investigate the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bond on bituminous coal spontaneous combustion. The results show that Bmim[Ntf2] inhibits the spontaneous combustion of bituminous coal. The addition of Bmim[Ntf2] increases the decomposition temperature of bituminous coal, where the apparent activation energy is increased. The results of Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometry show that the reduction in hydrogen bonds reduces the risk of spontaneous combustion of bituminous coal.