BIOLOGICAL ELIMINATION OF MINERALS FROM HIGH ASH COAL BY ASPERGILLUS -LIKE FUNGI

摘要

Efficiency of filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus niger on the bio-liquefaction of low rank Indian coals, its chemical composition, surface characteristics of the products and the microbial mechanisms of coal conversion were studied. Virgin and bio-liquefied/solubilized coal samples were characterized using FT-IR, Scanning electron microscopy and CHNS and proximate analysis. The micrographs were bright field and reveal several features correspond to the mineral grains comprising of aluminium, silicates and calcites. The absence of some morphological features corresponds to inorganic elements in residual samples which confirm demineralisation with the possible formation of respective Aluminum and Silicate complexes. The change in absorption of mineral matter functional group of these coal samples were studied using Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR). From the proximate analysis it was found that the ash content decreased by 76% when treated with fungal culture.