The effect of moderate coal cleaning on microbial removal of organic sulfur

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5709903

Srivastava, V J; Kilbane, II, J J

The purpose of this project is to investigate the possibilities of developing an integrated physical/chemical/microbial process for the pre-combustion removal of sulfur from coal. An effective pre- combustion coal desulfurization process should ideally be capable of removing both organic and inorganic sulfur. A variety of techniques exists for the removal of inorganic sulfur from coal, but there is currently no cost-effective method for the pre-combustion removal of organic sulfur. Recent developments have demonstrated that microorganisms are capable of specifically cleaving carbon-sulfur bonds and removing substantial amounts of organic sulfur from coal. However, lengthy treatment times are required. Moreover, the removal of organic sulfur from coal by microorganisms is hampered by the fact that, as a solid substrate, it is difficult to bring microorganisms in contact with the entirety of a coal sample. This study will examine the suitably of physically/chemically treated coal samples for subsequent biodesulfurization. Physical/chemical processes primarily designed for the removal of pyritic sulfur may also cause substantial increases in the porosity and surface area of the coal which may facilitate the subsequent removal of organic sulfur by microorganisms. During the current quarter, the direct determination of organic sulfur by the electron microbeam technique confirmed previous results that IGTS8 successfully removed approximately 40% of the organic sulfur from microbially depyritized IBC-101 coal. The successful removal of organic sulfur from microbially depyritized IBC-101 and Illinois No. 6 coals was repeated and samples have been submitted for analysis by the EXAFS technique to confirm these results. Water-soluble coal-derived hydrocarbons were produced and the results of preliminary experiments indicate that substantial reduction of organic sulfur content can be achieved with treatment times as brief as 24 hours. 5 tabs.

• Research Organization: Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, IL (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; ILDENR; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA); Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources, Springfield, IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: FG22-90PC90176
• OSTI ID: 5709903
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/90176-T23; ON: DE91014051
• 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
BITUMINOUS COAL
BLACK COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
CULTURE MEDIA
DESULFURIZATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
POROSITY
PROGRESS REPORT
SURFACE AREA
SURFACE PROPERTIES