The use of ethanol to remove sulfur from coal. Final report, September 1991--December 1992; Revision
The initial technical goal in the project was to develop a chemical method for the cost effective removal of both inorganic and organic sulfur from Ohio coals. Verifying and using a process of reacting ethanol vapors with coal under conditions disclosed in U.S. Patent 4,888,029, the immediate technical objectives were to convert a small scale laborative batch process to a larger scale continuous process which can serve as the basis for commercial development of the technology. This involved getting as much information as possible from small scale batch autoclave or fluid bed laboratory reactors for use in pilot plant studies. The laboratory data included material balances on the coal and sulfur, temperature and pressure ranges for the reaction, minimum reaction times at different conditions, the effectiveness of different activators such as oxygen and nitric oxide, the amount and nature of by-products such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and acetaldehyde, the effect of coal particle size on the speed and completeness of the reaction, and the effectiveness of the reaction on different Ohio coals. Because the laboratory experiments using the method disclosed in U.S. 4,888,029 were not successful, the objective for the project was changed to develop a new laboratory process to use ethanol to remove sulfur from coal. Using copper as a catalyst and as an H{sub 2}S scavenger, a new laboratory procedure to use ethanol to remove sulfur from coal has been developed at Ohio University and a patent application covering this process was filed in March, 1993. The process is based on the use of copper as a catalyst for the dehydrogenation of ethanol to produce nascent hydrogen to remove sulfur from the coal and the use of copper as a scavenger to capture the hydrogen sulfide formed from the sulfur removed from coal.
- Research Organization:
- Ohio Coal Development Office, Columbus, OH (United States); Ohio Coal Research Center, Athens, OH (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Ohio State Government, Columbus, OH (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 10154683
- Report Number(s):
- OCDO-94012358; ON: TI94012358; TRN: AHC29412%%64
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 10 Mar 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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