Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Devolatilization predicting model based on coal heterogeneous chemical structure from micro-Raman spectroscopy with neural network

Wei, Yufan ; Jiang, Xu LU orcid ; Du, Zhenyi ; Xu, Jun ; Jiang, Long ; Xu, Kai ; Wang, Yi ; Su, Sheng ; Hu, Song and Xiang, Jun (2025) In Journal of the Energy Institute 120.
Abstract

This study proposes a novel devolatilization model based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), employing quantified coal chemical structure features as input. Initially, a reliable method was developed to quantify the average/heterogeneous properties of coal structures using high-resolution micro-Raman spectroscopy. The evolution of chemical structure with increasing coal rank was investigated using 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. A strong positive correlation was observed between the parameters derived from these two techniques, highlighting their complementarity and enhancing the capability of micro-Raman for analyzing heterogeneous chemical structures. As coal rank increased, the... (More)

This study proposes a novel devolatilization model based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), employing quantified coal chemical structure features as input. Initially, a reliable method was developed to quantify the average/heterogeneous properties of coal structures using high-resolution micro-Raman spectroscopy. The evolution of chemical structure with increasing coal rank was investigated using 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. A strong positive correlation was observed between the parameters derived from these two techniques, highlighting their complementarity and enhancing the capability of micro-Raman for analyzing heterogeneous chemical structures. As coal rank increased, the distribution features of different structural types exhibited significant changes, particularly in the heterogeneity of fluorescence-rich and aromatic ring structures, which initially increased and subsequently decreased. Furthermore, the potential of heterogeneous chemical characteristics for predicting coal devolatilization was explored. While the general distribution model (GDM) demonstrated substantial potential in predicting devolatilization, its precision was found to be insufficient. To address this limitation, a CNN was introduced to improve prediction accuracy. The results revealed that compared to the direct use of chemical distribution parameters as input (CNN model), the GDM-CNN model, which incorporates the results from GDM, achieved the highest and most balanced precision. The absolute prediction error for raw and blended samples was consistently below 23.5 °C. This work introduces a methodology for establishing a high-precision devolatilization model by combining quantitative chemical structure analysis with neural networks. This approach can be extended to other characterization techniques and solid fuel samples, demonstrating broad applicability.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Coal devolatilization model, Distributed chemical structure, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, Neural network
in
Journal of the Energy Institute
volume
120
article number
102126
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105003996372
ISSN
1743-9671
DOI
10.1016/j.joei.2025.102126
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b581d2ee-4489-4922-8c51-70099a1d5c20
date added to LUP
2025-07-31 10:03:24
date last changed
2025-07-31 10:04:48
@article{b581d2ee-4489-4922-8c51-70099a1d5c20,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study proposes a novel devolatilization model based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), employing quantified coal chemical structure features as input. Initially, a reliable method was developed to quantify the average/heterogeneous properties of coal structures using high-resolution micro-Raman spectroscopy. The evolution of chemical structure with increasing coal rank was investigated using <sup>13</sup>C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. A strong positive correlation was observed between the parameters derived from these two techniques, highlighting their complementarity and enhancing the capability of micro-Raman for analyzing heterogeneous chemical structures. As coal rank increased, the distribution features of different structural types exhibited significant changes, particularly in the heterogeneity of fluorescence-rich and aromatic ring structures, which initially increased and subsequently decreased. Furthermore, the potential of heterogeneous chemical characteristics for predicting coal devolatilization was explored. While the general distribution model (GDM) demonstrated substantial potential in predicting devolatilization, its precision was found to be insufficient. To address this limitation, a CNN was introduced to improve prediction accuracy. The results revealed that compared to the direct use of chemical distribution parameters as input (CNN model), the GDM-CNN model, which incorporates the results from GDM, achieved the highest and most balanced precision. The absolute prediction error for raw and blended samples was consistently below 23.5 °C. This work introduces a methodology for establishing a high-precision devolatilization model by combining quantitative chemical structure analysis with neural networks. This approach can be extended to other characterization techniques and solid fuel samples, demonstrating broad applicability.</p>}},
  author       = {{Wei, Yufan and Jiang, Xu and Du, Zhenyi and Xu, Jun and Jiang, Long and Xu, Kai and Wang, Yi and Su, Sheng and Hu, Song and Xiang, Jun}},
  issn         = {{1743-9671}},
  keywords     = {{Coal devolatilization model; Distributed chemical structure; Micro-Raman spectroscopy; Neural network}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of the Energy Institute}},
  title        = {{Devolatilization predicting model based on coal heterogeneous chemical structure from micro-Raman spectroscopy with neural network}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joei.2025.102126}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.joei.2025.102126}},
  volume       = {{120}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}