Impacts of sonication and post-desulfurization on organic sulfur species by reductive pyrolysis

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) Vol. 183; pp. 278 - 291
• Main Authors: Mesroghli, Sh, Yperman, J., Reggers, G., Jorjani, E., Carleer, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2016
• Subjects: Coal; Mass spectrometry; Peroxyacetic acid; Reductive pyrolysis; Sulfur; Ultrasound irradiation; Sulfur; Mass spectrometry; Peroxyacetic acid; Ultrasound irradiation; Coal; Reductive pyrolysis
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2016.06.037

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•Desulphurized sonicated coal using PAA result in complex sulfur form changes.•Role of AOP on coal oxidation as a function of different sonication times was investigated.•High amounts of oxidized sulfur compounds are present in desulphurised sonicated coal.•Quantitative organic sulfur form changes were determined.•Sonication for 20min resulted in the highest organic sulfur reduction.
A comparative research on the effect of the ultrasound irradiation and peroxyacetic acid (PAA) desulfurization on sulfur forms in high sulfur coal samples (gathered from Tabas mine in Iran) was studied by reductive pyrolysis method. The total sulfur reduction after chemical desulfurization by PAA for sonicated samples is achieved in a range of 49–58%. Moreover, the studied sonicated-desulfurized samples showed that the pyritic and sulfate sulfur were mainly attacked by PAA. The maximum organic sulfur reduction was obtained for longer sonication treatment times (15 and 20min) being around 42–44%. For the first time the role of advanced oxidation process (AOP) in the sonication treatment of coal samples has been considered. The profiles of m/z 48 (SO+) and 64 (SO2+) obtained by Atmospheric Pressure-Temperature Program Reduction on-line coupled with MS (AP-TPR/MS) experiments for sonicated and sonicated-desulfurized samples exhibited identical trends over the whole temperature range. This achievement demonstrated the presence of high amounts of oxidized sulfur functionalities as a function of sonication treatment and post-chemical PAA desulfurization. Furthermore, AP-TPR “off-line” coupled with TD-GC/MS showed quantitative changes in the refractory sulfur forms as a result of sonication settings before and after desulfurization.