Microbial desulfurization of coal. [Leptospirillum ferrooxidans]

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5745239

Andrews, G F; Dugan, P R; McIlwain, M E; Stevens, C J

A bacterial coal depyritization process was operated at a large laboratory scale for four months treating almost 500 kg of an Illinois {number sign}6 coal supplied by the Monterey Coal Company and ground to 80% minus 100 mesh. The main features of the process were a 200-{ell} aerated trough bioreactor consisting of a channel 2.44 m long with a porous aeration tube running along its V-shaped bottom, an inclined 40 {mu}m screen for dewatering the coal slurry, and a liquid recycle stream to inoculate the incoming coal with the bacteria and ferric ion required for pyrite removal. The process was started up with large numbers of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans bacteria grown on iron media in a specially built electrolysis cell. Natural selection pressures then created a mixed culture well adapted to the coal from these bacteria, smaller numbers of T. thiooxidans added later, and the bacteria carried into the system with the coal. The process was run at 2.0 < pH < 2.7 and 18{degrees}C < temperature < 22{degrees}C.

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 5745239
• Report Number(s): EGG-2669; ON: DE92008975
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010402* -- Coal
Lignite
&amp; Peat-- Purification &amp; Upgrading
550700 -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BACILLUS
BACTERIA
BIODEGRADATION
BIOREACTORS
BITUMINOUS COAL
BLACK COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
DECOMPOSITION
DESULFURIZATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
MINERALS
PYRITE
SULFIDE MINERALS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR-OXIDIZING BACTERIA
THIOBACILLUS FERROXIDANS