Project for laboratory study for removal of organic sulfur from coal. Quarterly technical progress report

Technical Report · Wed Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5046916· OSTI ID:5046916

The Gravimelt Process was extended to the desulfurization of ordinary mine-cleaned Kentucky No. 11 coal obtained from the Tennessee Valley Authority. Eight process runs were made resulting in reduction of the sulfur content from a starting 2.7 lbs S/10/sup 6/ Btu to a mean of 0.475 lbs S/10/sup 6/ Btu, (0.95 lbs SO/sub 2//10/sup 6/ Btu) for an average 82% sulfur reduction. The effect of utilization of molten sodium hydroxide alone vs molten mixed potassium and sodium hydroxide was investigated for this coal; sulfur reduction averaged 84% for the mixed melt and 78% for the use of sodium hydroxide alone. A double extraction with sodium hydroxide resulted in a reduction in total sulfur to 0.3 lbs S/10/sup 6/ Btu which is an 89% reduction. In a series of experiments, the melt was reused three times on fresh samples of coal, always giving the same amount of sulfur reduction. Extraction of the desulfurized Kentucky No. 11 coals with an additional dilute sulfuric acid wash reduced the ash content of the coal from 7.9% to a level of 0.3%, thus providing a solid hydrocarbon fuel similar in both ash and sulfur content to a medium grade fuel oil. Multiple experimentation on high ash Kentucky No. 9 sink coal demonstrated that water washing alone reduces the sum of sodium and potassium retained on the coal the the level of the starting input coal or to a level of approximately 1% total alkali metals. Thus, retention of alkali metals by Gravimelt treated coal will not be a problem.

• Research Organization: TRW Defense and Space Systems Group, Redondo Beach, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-80PC30141
• OSTI ID: 5046916
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/30141-T2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010402* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Purification & Upgrading
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
COAL
COAL PREPARATION
COMMINUTION
DATA
DEASHING
DESULFURIZATION
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GRAVIMELT PROCESS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
POTASSIUM HYDROXIDES
REMOVAL
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM HYDROXIDES
WASHING