CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY

Clean coal technologies are several generations of technological advances that

have led to efficient combustion of coal with reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxide

Biotechnology and Microbiology of coal degradation

Simplified schematic illustrating the methanogenic degradation of organic matter.

1: Initial hydrolysis of polymeric carbon
2: Fermentation of monomers to low molecular weight compounds
3: Aceticlastic methanogenesis
4: CO2-reducing methanogenesis from fermentation intermediates

The general process of organic matter degradation under methanogenic conditions.

This process occurs in multiple discrete stages and requires the concerted activities
of several metabolically diverse groups of microorganisms.
The initial reaction is likely a hydrolytic depolymerization of the parent organic
material (Reaction 1) and is thought to be the rate-limiting step in the overall
process .
Lower molecular weight monomers are then further degraded via fermentative and
syntrophic metabolism generating short-chain fatty acids, CO2, and H2 (Reaction 2).
These intermediates (C1 compounds and acetate) are rapidly consumed ( Reactions
3 and 4) by methanogenic archaea leading to the production of methane.

Biosolubilization of coal in aqueous media

The solubilization of coal by microorganisms was first reported in 1982 by Cohen
and Gabrielle .
These and other workers noted the production of liquid droplets from coal,
associated with the growth of mycellial organisms on the coal surface.
Organisms competent to solubilze coal were isolated from coal in the environment
or in the laboratory .
It was subsequently shown that these organisms solubilized coal when cultured on
the surface of common, organic microbiological media.
Suitable coal substrates for this activity were leonardite , lignites , and
subbituminous coals.
In the l a t t e r cases, the coals required oxidative pretreatment ei ther through
natural weathering or by chemical agents [hydrogen peroxide, ozone, nitri c acid.
The product of this microbial activity was a water-soluble mixture of oxidized
compounds of moderate molecular weight [30,000-300,000 daltons .
The material was enriched in carbonyl and hydroxyl functions relative to the coal
substrate, and was precipitable at pH 1. Its cha r a c t e r i s t i c s resembled those
of humic acids, except for its water-solubility.

Recent work (5.6) in t h i s laboratory has sought to determine the mechanism by

which microorganisms s o l u b i l i z e coal in vivo. Superior i s o l a t e s (fungi)
have been cultivated in a defined growth medium in both surface culture on agar

and submerged culture in liquid medium. These culture methods simulate fixed-bed
and fluidized-bed bioreactor configurations respectively, which have been
proposedfor use with t h i s technology (Figure 1).
The defined media developed for use in t h i s work consisted of inorganic s a l t s ,
supplying the organism's mineral requirements, plus a sole carbohydrate carbon
source (5). These media support
c o a l s o l u b i l i z a t i o n in vivo (Table 1). The use of defined media has
minimized
contamination of the liquid coal product with organic medium components, and
w i l l contribute to f u r t h e r product analysis. product recovery has been
expedited
,by growth and s o l u b i l i z a t i o n under submerged culture conditions, i.e. in
shake flasks. use of t h i s system has also permitted the development of a
spectrophotometric assay for coal solubilization, based on the appearance of
chromophoric material (absorbing in the 420-450 nm spectral range) in cultures
incubated with coal. Its spectral c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s were identical t o those of
the material formed by the nonbiological action of a l k a l i on coal.
The solubilization of coal by d i l u t e a l k a l i had been demonstrated previously,
and had been implicated in the a c t i v i t y in vivo (6). Specifically, it was
thought that microbial coal s o l u b i l i z a t i o n occuted as a fortuitous
consequence
of pH increases associated with growth. Evidenke in support of t h i s conclusion
had been obtained in alkaligenic systems s u b s t a n t i a l l y contaminated with
protein
and other basic components. In the present work, a c t i v i t y was detected i n an
acidogenic system of known biochemical composition (Figure 2). These data support
an involvement of alkaline c a t a l y s i s in the microbial activity. The data
suggest f u r t h e r t h a t t h e proposed alkaline c a t a l y s t is produced by
cultures in
s p e c i f i c response to the presence of coal.

The liquid product generated by fungal action on coal may have some u t i l i t y as