Overview
ISO 562:2010 specifies a standardized laboratory method for the determination of volatile matter in hard coal and coke. The method measures the mass loss (excluding moisture loss) when a ground test portion is heated out of contact with air under controlled conditions. ISO 562:2010 is not applicable to brown coals and lignites and is intended for reproducible coal analysis and quality assessment.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope: Applies to hard coal and coke; excludes brown coal and lignites.
- Principle: Volatile matter = mass loss on heating at 900 °C (±5 °C) for 7 minutes, corrected for moisture determined in parallel.
- Sample preparation: General analysis test sample ground to pass a 212 µm sieve and equilibrated to laboratory moisture.
- Apparatus:
- Electric furnace with a uniform 900 °C zone and rapid temperature recovery (regain within 4 min after insertion).
- Unsheathed thermocouple (≤1 mm wire) for temperature verification; optional sheathed thermocouple for permanent installation.
- Fused silica crucible and well‑fitting lid (horizontal clearance ≤ 0.5 mm) - lid fit is critical to exclude air.
- Crucible stands for single or multiple determinations and a balance reading to 0.1 mg.
- Procedure:
- Preheat empty crucibles at 900 °C ±5 °C, cool and tare.
- Weigh ~1.0 g test portion (±0.1 g) into the crucible, replace lid, and insert into the cold stand then furnace for 7 min ±5 s.
- For coke, add 2–4 drops of cyclohexane to charged crucibles to prevent oxidation before heating.
- Cool and weigh; calculate volatile matter corrected for moisture (ISO 11722 for coal moisture, ISO 687 for coke moisture).
- Results & precision:
- Report mean of duplicate determinations to nearest 0.1% (air‑dried basis).
- Repeatability and reproducibility limits are specified (e.g., hard coal repeatability 0.3% absolute for V