AFA Documentation
Breadcrumbs

Molecular Structure of Coal

Introduction

Coal is a non-volatile, insoluble, non-crystalline, highly complex mixture of organic molecules of varying size and structure. The characterization of coal structure is challenging. A hypothetical model for a coal is shown below:

image-20230531-020531.png
Hypothetical model of bituminous coal


References:

  • Tissot, B. and Welte, D.H. (1978) Petroleum Formation and Occurrence. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

  • S. D. Killops, V. J. Killops, An Introduction to Organic Geochemistry, Longman Scientific & Technical ; New York : Wiley, 1993