Serial biological conversion of coal to liquid fuels

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5539899

It has been demonstrated recently that certain microorganisms may be used to directly convert coal into liquid products. Two cultures, LSC and H12, have been isolated which show the ability to solubilize both untreated and pretreated coals. The LSC culture, isolated from a lignite outcrop in Saline County, Arkansas, is capable of converting 30 percent of untreated lignite in 28 hours. The LSC culture appears to be superior in terms of its solubilizing capabilities when compared to the H12 culture. Rapid biosolubilization of lignite has also been demonstrated at elevated temperatures without using expensive nutrients. Organisms were grown on inexpensive nutrients and added to various coals. Solubilization occurred in under 10 minutes when the temperature was increased to 100{degrees}C. Water soluble coal products produced by the action of these coal solubilizing organisms LSC and H12 were obtained and used in a second biological process for conversion to alcohol fuels. Alcohols and organic acids were produced from cultures obtained from sewage sludge and sheep rumen fluid. The sheep rumen culture, in addition to producing alcohols and acids, was capable of totally eliminating color from the culture medium. Mixed bacterial consortia were obtained from the US Bureau of Mines, who obtained the cultures from abandoned coal mines into which sewage sludge had been previously deposited. These cultures were evaluated for their ability to solubilize coal or produce methane from solubilized coal. No biosolubilizing activity was noted, and methane production only occurred in samples where acetate or yeast extract had been added. 36 refs., 31 figs., 71 tabs.

• Research Organization: Arkansas Univ., Fayetteville, AR (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-87PC79937
• OSTI ID: 5539899
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/79937-T4; ON: DE91013564
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010405* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Hydrogenation & Liquefaction
550700 -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ACETATES
ALCOHOL FUELS
ALCOHOLS
ANIMALS
BIOCONVERSION
BITUMINOUS COAL
BLACK COAL
BROWN COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
CATTLE
COAL
COAL LIQUEFACTION
COWS
CULTURE MEDIA
DISSOLUTION
DOCUMENT TYPES
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
ENERGY SOURCES
ETHANOL
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
LIGNITE
LIQUEFACTION
MAMMALS
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PROGRESS REPORT
RUMINANTS
SEWAGE
SHEEP
SLUDGES
SUBBITUMINOUS COAL
SYNTHETIC FUELS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
VERTEBRATES
WASTES
YIELDS