Letters to the Editor

Auto-desulphuriration of coal

Debabrata Chandra, Jitendra N. Chakrabarti” and Yerramsetti Venkata Swamy”

Department of Applied Geology, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad 826004, India
l Department of Chemistry, Fuel and Mineral Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad
826004, India
(Received 9 February 1981; revised 12 August 1981)

The effect of atmospheric oxidation or weathering on different forms of sulphur in coal has been studied
using a coal sample ground to ~63 pm and kept exposed to the atmosphere for up to 228 days.
Occasionally, samples were taken from the exposed coal for analysis of total-, sulphate-, pyritic- and
organic sulphur. Significant amounts of total-, pyritic- and organic sulphur were reduced up to 106 days
of exposure, resulting in a total sulphur content within the permissible limits of utilization. Thus,
commercial desulphurization of coal may be possible by using the simple process of atmospheric
weathering.

(Keywords: coal; oxidation; weathering; desulphurization)

While working on the desulphurization of coals by
bacteria, sulphur contents of a coal sample changed in
the course of four years. The sample was stored in lumps,
in a tin container. Occasionally coal was removed for
experimental purposes. It occurred to the authors that the
change in the sulphur contents of the coal was due to
atmospheric oxidation. To prove this, further work was
done under carefully controlled conditions.
The sulphate sulphur content increased (Figure I), as a
result of oxidation of pyrite to ferric sulphate, in the
presence of oxygen from the atmosphere2.
Total sulphur and organic sulphur contents decreased
with time for up to 106 days of exposure to the atmosphere

EXPERIMENTAL
A sample of coal, (stored for four years) Baragolai-60’
(Baragolai Colliery, Assam, 60 feet seam), was ground to
240 BSS (~63 pm) and kept in a plastic container for 228
days covered with a piece of line cloth to avoid
accumulation of dust. Occasionally coal was removed for
analysis of total-, sulphate-, pyritic- and organic sulphur.
The amount of organic sulphur was obtained by
deducting the amounts of pyritic and sulphate sulphur
from total sulphur. Analyses of sulphur were carried out
according to a standard procedure’.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Changes in contents of different forms of sulphur in the
stored coal are shown in Table I. The total-, pyritic-, and
organic sulphur decreased during the four years. The total
sulphur content of the coal stored for four years
diminished from 3.50 to 2.40 wt% amounting to a decrease
of 31%. The organic sulphur also significantly decreased
from 2.29 to 1.87 wt%, i.e. a reduction in organic sulphur
of 18% during the four years.
When the coal which had been stored for four years was
powdered and kept in the atmsophere for periods of time
it was found that pyritic sulphur decreased with time for
up to 106 days, and then remained relatively constant
(Figure I).

Table 1 Total sulphur (wt%) and distribution of different forms of

sulphur in Baragolai 60’ on storage

Total Distribution of sulphur (%)

sulphur 0 80 160 240
Year (wt %I Sulphate Pyritic Organic Days

Figure 1 Distribution of sulphur with weathering time (Baragolai-

1976 3.50 0.32 0.89 2.29
60’ coal). 0, Total sulphur; 0, organic sulphur; q, sulphate sulphur;
1960 2.40 0.41 0.06 1 .a7
A, pyritic sulphur

001&2361/82/02020+02%3.00
@I982 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd.

204 FUEL, 1982, Vol 61, February

 Letters to the Editor

(Figure I). After 106 days, total sulphur and organic
sulphur contents significantly increased (for reasons not
yet known) up to 136 days of exposure. After 136 days
both total and organic sulphur appear to have decreased
with time. Thus the overall effect is a reduction in the total
sulphur content of the coal from 3.50 to 1.94 wt% (i.e.,
within the permissible limit of sulphur content for
utilization purposes) amounting to a reduction of w 44%.
The organic sulphur content was also significantly
reduced from 2.29 to 1.40 wt% (up to 106 days of
treatment) amounting to a reduction of ~36%.
Considerable work has been done on desulphurization
of coa13-* but so far no one has been able to show that
organic sulphur decreases with weathering. Therefore, the
results show that coals could automatically desulphurize
if kept in exposed dumps. Thus, there is a possibility of
significant commercial desulphurization of coal by using
this simple process of atmospheric weathering. In our
opinion, depending on the nature of coal, this process may
be supplemented by bacteriological and/or chemical
methods for desulphurization. However, although
sulphur contents of coals may change favourably on
exposure to air for long periods of time, this weathering
process with associated oxidation of the coal may
adversely affect coking properties of coals.
REFERENCES
Indian Standard, IS:1350 (Part III), 1969, 5-13
Chang-Ching Youh. Proc. Natl. Sci. Count 1979, S(2), 141
Silverman, M. P., Rogoff, M. H. and Wender, I. Fuel 1963,42, 113
Dugan, P. R. and Apel, W. A. in ‘Metallurgical applications of
bacterial leaching and related microbiological phenomena’(Ed. L. E.
Murr, A. E. Torma and J. A. Brierley) Academic Press, 1978, p. 223
Meyers, R. A. Coal Age, January 1976, 68, A-P
Stambaugh, E. P. (Battelle Mem. Ins., Columbus, Ohio), Am. Chem.
Sot. Div. Fuel Chem., Preprints 1974, 19, 2
Chandra, D., Roy, P., Mishra, A. K., Chakrabarti, J. N., Prasad, N.
K. and Chaudhuri, S. G. Fuel 1980,59,249
Chandra, D., Roy, P., Mishra, A. K., Chakrabarti, J. N. and
Sengupta, B. Fuel 1979,68, 259

FUEL, 1982, Vol 61, February 205