Evaluation of sulfur-reducing microorganisms for organic desulfurization
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 freshmwater 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: (1) comparative results from sulfide sorption studies for IBC-101, IBC-108, and a North Dakota lignite; (2) calculation of Gibb's free energies for dissimilatory reduction of selected model compounds; (3) results from experiments in which elemental sulfur was used as a co-reductant to encourage microbial reduction of dibenzothiophene-sulfur to H{sub 2}S. 41 figs., 2 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Illinois State Univ., Normal, IL (USA). Dept. of Biological Sciences
- 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:
- 5836416
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/PC/90176-T21; ON: DE91014053
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANAEROBIC CONDITIONS
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
BIOCONVERSION
BITUMINOUS COAL
BLACK COAL
BROWN COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
DESULFURIZATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
KINETICS
LIGNITE
MATERIALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PROGRESS REPORT
REACTION KINETICS
SORPTION
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
THIONAPHTHENES