Prospect for application of radial distribution function in coal carbonisation research

ABSTRACT Carbonisation is an important way of comprehensive utilisation of coal. In this short contribution, the application of wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXD) and radial distribution function (RDF) in coal carbonisation research is briefly reviewed and prospected. General WAXD analysis can only provide basic geometrical structural parameters of crystals in the sample; while RDF derived from WAXD by Fourier transform can give further detailed structural parameters of coordination of atoms in sample. The application of RDF in coal science has been reported in offline static studies, but not in-situ studies. Here, a new ideal to perform in-situ RDF study on coal carbonisation is presented, which is based on a powerful synchrotron radiation platform with a proper detector and a high-temperature furnace. Thus, it is expected to obtain the fine dynamic structural evolution characteristics of coal during carbonisation.