| Abstract
| - Oxidation of low-rank coals using hydrogen peroxide at low temperatureunder ambient pressureis a promising method of producing small molecule fatty acids in highyield and in high selectivity.Five low-rank coals (C% = 65.1−74.7 on daf basis) served totest the validity of the method.When Argonne Premium Beulah Zap lignite was oxidized with 20volumes of 30% H2O2 aqueoussolution for 24 h at 60 °C, the carbon conversion to water-solubleorganics reached 0.71. Abouta half of the water-soluble organics were small molecules: methanol,formic acid, acetic acid,glycolic acid, and malonic acid. The high yields of thesecompounds are closely related to thestructure of low-rank coals. Obtaining these products in such highyield and high selectivityunder mild reaction conditions may give us a new route for utilizinglow-rank coals.
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