Desulfurization of pure coal macerals

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988 · Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry; (USA)

OSTI ID:5436770

Hippo, E J; Crelling, J C ^[1]

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1. Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale (USA)

The objectives of this study were to modify the present density gradient centrifugation (DGC) techniques for coal macerals to obtain 10-20 grams of target maceral concentrates and to determine the reactivity or ease of removing the organic sulfur in the various macerals with supercritical methanol extraction. Although the chemistry needed for this objective is not difficult, the accumulation of 10 to 20 gram quantities of pure petrographically verified single maceral concentrates has not been possible until now. The results of recent work have demonstrated that the individual macerals can be separated and verified. The accumulation of much larger quantities than have previously been separated was a problem that has been overcome by pre-concentrating target macerals at their density cut points. Supercritical fluid extraction of coals has previously been reported as a method in the production of liquid fuel products from coal under mild conditions and as a medium for selective desulfurization of coal. Alcohols are expected to exhibit greater solubility for polar organic molecules due to hydrogen bonding and dipole attractive forces, also providing the opportunity for chemical reactions during the extraction due to the nucleophilicity of the alcohol oxygen and the tendency to act as a hydrogen donor. In addition, enol rearrangements may play a role in desulfurization. As previously reported different supercritical reaction conditions produced different extents of desulfurization of coals (33.9 - 65.7%). These variable desulfurizations are probably a result of differences in extents of conversion of the pyritic sulfur (to various alteration products, such as pyrrhotite), as well as organic sulfur functionalities (thiophenol, sulfide, and thiophenes) to light gases such as dimethylsulfide, hydrogen sulfide, and methylmercaptons.

• OSTI ID: 5436770
• Report Number(s): CONF-8806313-; CODEN: ACFPA
• Journal Information: Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry; (USA), Vol. 33:1; Conference: Sulfur chemistry in coal, Toronto (Canada), 5-10 Jun 1988; ISSN 0569-3772
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
BITUMINOUS COAL
DESULFURIZATION
EXINITE
SUPERCRITICAL GAS EXTRACTION
INERTINITE
VITRINITE
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
CENTRIFUGATION
DEMINERALIZATION
DENSITY
METHANOL
PARTICLE SIZE
POTASSIUM HYDROXIDES
PYRITE
REMOVAL
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUBILITY
SULFUR
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TIME DEPENDENCE
ALCOHOLS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
BLACK COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXTRACTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
MACERALS
MATERIALS
MINERALS
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
SIZE
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SULFIDE MINERALS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
010402* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Purification & Upgrading