Processing of coal with microorganisms. Final report

Technical Report · Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6089458

Olson, G J; Brinckman, F E; Iverson, W P

A computer-assisted survey and evaluation of the international literature on microbial transformations of coal and relevant organic compounds was performed to identify candidate microorganisms and biological processes potentially applicable to coal bioprocessing. The vast majority of the literature on coal bioprocessing deals with desulfurization via pyrite removal, and some bioprocessing schemes have been proposed. Reports on organic sulfur and metals removal from coal have recently appeared. As yet unevaluated are systems for removal of other elements from coal such as oxygen and nitrogen. However, model substrates resembling certain important O and N functional groups in coal are degraded by microorganisms. These microorganisms could potentially be useful in coal bioprocessing. Our laboratory results suggest that a strain of Bacillus, capable of vanillic acid decarboxylation, may remove carboxyl groups from coal. We were not able to confirm literature reports on organic S removal from coal by Sulfolobus, or on coal liquefaction by certain fungi. 90 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6089458
• Report Number(s): EPRI-AP-4472; ON: TI86920227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
COAL
BIODEGRADATION
DESULFURIZATION
COAL PREPARATION
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PYRITE
REMOVAL
REVIEWS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
MATERIALS
MINERALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SULFIDE MINERALS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
010405* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Hydrogenation & Liquefaction
010402 - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Purification & Upgrading
013000 - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Transport
Handling
& Storage