Coal humic substances and their application to pollution control in the synthetic fuels industry. I. Review. II. By-product water treatment

Technical Report · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:6795169

Manahan, S E; Poulson, R E; Green, J B; Farrier, D S

Coal humic acid is a fraction of coal humic substances prepared by the partial oxidation of coal and has a number of properties that make it attractive as a material to treat pollutants in water, stack gas, and other pollutant sources. Among these properties are acid-base functionality, chelation, precipitation with hydrogen ions or divalent metal ions, sorption of organic compounds, foaming, and ability to act as a flocculant. The research reported in this work deals with selected applications of coal humic substances for the treatment of water pollutants produced as byproducts from synthetic fuels manufacture. The first section of this paper is a review of humic substances in general, coal humic substances in particular, and the uses of coal humic substances for wastewater treatment. The second section of this work describes the preparation and properties of coal humic substances and their applications to wastewater treatment. Two main aspects are emphasized. The first of these is the removal of organic pollutants labelled with carbon-14 from oil shale retort by-product water by treatment with lime and lime plus coal humic acid. In general, the removal of organic compounds is enhanced by the addition of coal humic acid. The lowest removal was zero for removal of benzoic acid by lime treatment, alone, (3.99% removal in the presence of coal humic substance). The highest removal efficiency was 99.2% removal of benz(a)pyrene with lime plus coal humic acid (97.5% with lime, alone). The interaction of coal humic acid and fly ash is described. Certain kinds of fly ash are possible sources of base for the conversion of coal humic acid to coal humates. The interaction of coal humic acid with fly ash is compared to that between fly ash and salicylic acid, a low molecular weight analog of one of the major structural entities in coal humic substances.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Laramie, WY (USA). Laramie Energy Technology Center
• OSTI ID: 6795169
• Report Number(s): LETC/RI-78/5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010405* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Hydrogenation & Liquefaction
010500 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Products & By-Products
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400300 -- Organic Chemistry-- (-1987)
AEROSOL WASTES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
BUFFERS
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HYDROXIDES
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHELATES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL PREPARATION
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
COAL
COAL LIQUEFACTION PLANTS
COMPLEXES
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLY ASH
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
FULVIC ACIDS
HUMIC ACIDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL
PROCESSING
REMOVAL
SYNTHESIS
USES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL