Kinetics of oxydesulfurization of Minshall, Indiana coal

Abstract

The kinetics of the oxidation of pyritic sulfur, organic sulfur and carbon for the Minshall, Indiana coal was investigated. Experiments were conducted in a semi-batch manner. The experimental data were taken in the temperature range of 19O-23O°C, oxygen partial pressure range of 0.86-3.44 MPa and for the batch times up to 3600 s. The rate of organic sulfur removal was observed to be second order with respect to sulfur and first order with respect to the partial pressure of oxygen, and this reaction was found to have an activation energy of 75,000 kJ/kg-mole. The pyritic sulfur removal was observed to be much more rapid, and the experimental data fitted the continuous reaction model with second order dependence on pyritic sulfur. However, the coal combustion loss in the case of this coal was relatively high, probably because of the presence of larger amounts of oxygen containing compounds, and this coal did not meet the EPA standards for the heating value losses.