Evaluation of sulfur-reducing microorganisms for organic desulfurization

Technical Report · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:5438487

Miller, K W ^[1]

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1. Illinois State Univ., Normal, IL (United States). Dept. of Biological Sciences

Because a substantial portion of the sulfur in Illinois coal is organically bound sulfur, microbial desulfurization of sulfidic and thiophenic functionalities holds great potential for complementing pyritic sulfur removal. The release of H{sub 2}S from anaerobic systems such as the gut, sewage, and marine and freshwater sediments, is a common occurrence and the role of microorganisms in this process has long been recognized. The principal goals of our project are: to obtain anaerobic microbial cultures that produce H{sub 2}S from compounds representative of the organosulfur functionalities in coal; to optimize this activity; to evaluate the effectiveness of using these cultures to remove organic sulfur from Illinois coal. Our immediate objectives for this year are the following: To obtain additional cultures from coal mine waste and municipal sewage sludge, two environments previously unexplored by our laboratory; to continue optimizing activity in cultures that desulfurize model compounds, including identification of individual microbial species; to expand coal desulfurization experiments to include additional coals; and, to address the recently discovered problem of sulfide sorbing to coal. This quarter we report on the following: (1) desulfurization experiments with IBC-101; (2) quantitative experiments dealing with dibenzyldisulfide (DBDS) degradation in mixed cultures derived from petroleum wastes; (3) thiophene, dibenzothiophene (DBT), DBT sulfone, or phenyl sulfone as substrates for pure cultures of sulfate-reducing bacteria. 36 refs., 1 fig. 6 tabs.

• Research Organization: Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources, Springfield, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG22-90PC90176
• OSTI ID: 5438487
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/90176-T37; ON: DE91018301
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010402* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Purification & Upgrading
550700 -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANAEROBIC CONDITIONS
BACTERIA
BIODEGRADATION
BITUMINOUS COAL
BLACK COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
CULTURE MEDIA
DECOMPOSITION
DESULFURIZATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PROGRESS REPORT
SULFONES
THIONAPHTHENES