Structural study of colombian coal by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy coupled to attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR)

"The most important Colombian coals were studied using Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) Spectroscopy. The ATR-FTIR spectra were used to obtain structural parameters of coal and correlating these structural parameters with the rank of the coal. The structural parameters, methylene-methyl ratio (CH2/CH3), aromaticity factor (f α), aliphatic-aromatic ratio (Hal /Har) were determined directly from the ATR-FTIR spectra and fα was evaluated from spectra data and an elemental analysis in coals studied here. The aliphatic and aromatic regions were considered between 3000 - 2800 cm-¹ and 912 - 670 cm-¹, respectively."