Desulfurization of Illinois coals with hydroperoxides of vegetable oils and alkali, Quarterly report, March 1 - May 31, 1996

Organic sulfur is removed from coals by treatment with aqueous base, air, and vegetable oils with minimal loss of BTU. Such results were revealed during exploratory experiments on an ICCI funded project to remove organic sulfur from Illinois coals with hydroperoxides of vegetable oils. In fact, prewashing IBC-108 coal with dilute alkali prior to treating with linseed oil and air results in 26% removal of sulfur. This new method is being investigated by treating coals with alkali, impregnating coals with polyunsaturated oils, converting the oils to their hydroperoxides, and heating. Since these oils are relatively inexpensive and easily applied, this project could lead to a cost effective method for removing organic sulfur from coals. During the first quarter the selection of base fro pretreatment and extraction was completed. NaOH is better than NH{sub 4}OH for the pretreatment and Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} is better than NaOH for the oil extraction. During the second quarter the effectiveness of linseed oil and NaOH for sulfur removal from IBC-108 coal was further tested by pretreating the coal with two base concentrations at four different times followed by treatment with linseed oil at 125{degrees}C for three different times and finally washing with 5% Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} and methanol. During this third quarter more experimental parameters were systematically varied in order to study the effectiveness of linseed oil and NaOH for sulfur removal from IBC- 108 coal