Coal Slurries Desulfurization by Flotation Using Thiophilic Bacteria for Pyrite Depression†

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A new process for the removal of pyritic sulfur from coal slurries using bacterial conditioning prior to froth flotation has been developed and tested on two high sulfur coals. The results showed that over 90% of the pryritic sulfur can be removed from each coal. The coals tested were from Upper Freeport (2.1% total sulfur) and Pittsburgh No. 8 (4.42% total sulfur). The pyritic sulfur of the Upper Freeport coal was reduced from 1.59% to 0.13%, while that of Pittsburgh No. 8 was reduced from 3.8% to 0.36% using this process. The coal (Btu) recovery was only slightly affected by the bacterial treatment. The bacterial conditioning time was varied between 5-30min. It was concluded that most of the bacterial action takes place in the first l0min.