Oxidation of a coal slurry solution at platinum electrodes in strong acidic media has been studied in detail. The results indicate that the iron ions leached out from coal are responsible for major anodic currents. The Fe(II) is electrolytically oxidized to Fe(III) at the anode, which oxidizes coal to various products including CO2 4Fe3++2H2O+C→4Fe2++CO2+4H++normalother productsThe rate constants for the catalytic reaction are determined to be 3.0×10−5 normaland 1.1×10−4 sec−1 for Fe(III) and Ce(IV), respectively. The activation energy for the processes are 13.3 and 7.0 kcal/mol for Fe(III) and Ce(IV). Current efficiencies for CO2 production are 15∼30% .

The anodic oxidation of coal slurries has been studied under various experimental conditions. Results obtained from various experiments support the mechanism of the catalytic oxidation of coal slurries by iron (III) in solution, followed by the oxidation of reduced iron (II) to iron (III) at the electrode. The oxidation of coal slurries by iron (III) in solution is found to be a first‐order process with respect to both reactants, i.e., coal and iron (III), from concentration dependency studies, indicating that the overall reaction may consist of a sequence of one‐election transfers. It may also be concluded from various experimental results that the electrolysis reaction proceeds through the sequential formation, first of carbon oxides on the coal surface, and then of carbon dioxide as a final product. Of various catalyst oxidants studied, bromine and cerium (IV) appear to have the largest pseudo first‐order catalytic rate constants with 1.1×10−3sec−1 and 4.1×10−4sec−1 , respectively. Redox potentials of the catalyst pairs appear to be the most important parameter in determining catalytic reaction rates.

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Electrochemical oxidation of coal slurries has recently been suggested as a means of gasifying coal at low temperatures by Coughlin et al.

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