Vol 51, No 5 (2017)

The chemical, thermotechnical, and technological characteristics of the brown coal and bituminous shale of the Republic of Belarus are given, and the areas of their application to power engineering and other branches of national economy are determined. The most promising thermochemical technologies for the processing of the above caustobioliths with the production of fuel and nonfuel materials are analyzed.

Prospects for the power-engineering use of biomass in the world and in the Republic of were considered, a comparative analysis of methods for its thermochemical destruction was is carried out, and the results of an analysis of the pyrolysis of its mixture compositions with peat were represented.

It was established that an increase in the bituminosity of peat with the degree of decomposition can be explained by an exchange interaction between the π electrons of the molecular polyconjugation systems of humic acids and the quasi-polyconjugation systems of bitumens (the presence of the latter is caused by a synergistic effect of the interaction of separated aromatic rings and the hydrogen bonds of functional groups). This interaction leads to the formation of unique associates, and this fact explains an increase in the concentration of humic substances in a composition with bitumens with increasing the degree of decomposition. The concept of associates is confirmed by a considerable increase in the EPR signal observed upon the removal of a low bitumen content, which was accompanied by changes in its parameters in a number of cases. The formation of these associates occurs under different geoclimatic conditions of peat deposit formation. The lower bituminosity of lowland peats is caused by steric hindrances created by the Ca²⁺ ions bound to the functional groups of humic substances for the access of hydrocarbon molecules.

The sorption properties of materials formed after the extraction of humic substances (HSs) from caustobioliths, that is, the dehuminated caustobiolith (DC) residues insoluble in acids and alkalis, as promising secondary humic raw materials for the production of preparations for environmental protection were studied. The main factors responsible for the sorption activity of DCs with respect to nonparamagnetic and paramagnetic metal ions were substantiated from the standpoint of the preparation of sorption materials of different genesis from DCs.

A sorption material based on modified high-moor peat was developed to be used as a humidity control agent for the preventive conservation of museum pieces in the absence of air-conditioning systems. The prolonged full-scale tests of the peat absorbent in the interiors and depositories of the Belarussian State Museum of People’s Architecture and Life confirmed its high efficiency.