Impact of Biotechnology on Coal Processing

摘要

There is increasing interest in the application of biotechnology to the coal industry. The bioprocessing systems that have been proposed or that can be envisioned for the future involve all aspects of coal utilization. These include beneficiation of coal for the removal of sulfur and other heteroatoms, modification of coal properties, solubilization or liquefaction of coal, conversion of by-product gases to liquid fuel, single- or two-stage microbial gasification, in situ processing of coal, liquid products upgrading by heteroatom removal, wastewater treatment to remove organics and inorganics, heavy metal removal from wastewater, heteroatom removal from gaseous products or off-gas by immobilized microorganisms, stabilization of coal processing residues, and product spill cleanup. It was found that the only areas where considerable research has been done are in wastewater treatment and pyrite removal. The other areas have not been studied in enough detail to provide adequate information for even preliminary process designs, and, in some cases, the proposed applications are entirely speculative. Much additional research and development will be required before proper process considerations can be made, but the potential benefits would be well worth the effort. 228 refs., 7 tabs. (ERA citation 13:035549)