LAUSR

Abstract Organic matter in Baiyinhua lignite (BL) was characterized by direct characterizations with solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, thermal approaches with thermogravimetric analyzer, Curie-point pyrolyzer-gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, and sequential thermal dissolution (TD) followed by the analysis with a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. The results show that normal alkanes, alkylnaphthalenes, and oxygen-containing organic compounds with Ar–O– and –(C O)–O– moieties are predominant in BL. Aliphatic carbon atoms are dominated by methylene with the average carbon number of 2. The number of aromatic rings (ARs) and substituents attached on the ARs are 2 and 4, respectively. The most abundant organic oxygen species contain Ar–O– moieties. The cleavage of >Cal-Cal Car-Cal Car–O– bonds is the main reaction during the pyrolysis at 500 °C, which plays the most important role in devolatilizing organic species from BL. The products from the TD differ greatly due to the distinct pathways. When using methanol as the solvent, >C–O–C  O)–O– is negligible, which is the main reaction of TD in ethanol.