Reduced Sulfur in Ashes and Slags from the Gasification of Coals: Availability for Chemical and Microbial Oxidation

This study was initiated to determine if reduced sulfur contained in coal gasifier ash and slag was available for microbial and chemical oxidation because eventual large-quantity landfill disposal of these solid wastes is expected. Continuous application of distilled water to a column containing a high-sulfur-content (4% [wt/wt]) gasifier slag yielded leachates with high sulfate levels (1,300 mg of sulfate liter⁻¹) and low pH values (4.2). At the end of the experiment, a three-tube most-probable-number analysis indicated that the waste contained 1.3 × 10⁷ thiosulfate-oxidizing bacteria per g. Slag samples obtained aseptically from the column produced sulfate under both abiotic and biotic conditions when incubated in a mineral nutrient solution. Both microbial and chemical sulfate syntheses were greatly stimulated by the addition of thiosulfate to the slag-mineral nutrient solution. These results led to a test of microbial versus chemical sulfur oxidation in ashes and slags from five gasification processes. Sulfate production was measured in sterile (autoclaved) and nonsterile suspensions of the solid wastes in a mineral nutrient solution. These ashes and slags varied in sulfur content from 0.3 to 4.0% (wt/wt). Four of these wastes demonstrated both chemical (2.0 to 27 μg of sulfate g⁻¹ day⁻¹) and microbial (3.1 to 114 μg of sulfate g⁻¹ day⁻¹) sulfur oxidation. Obvious relationships between sulfur oxidation rate and either sulfur content or particle size distribution of the wastes were not immediately evident. We conclude that the sulfur contained in all but one waste is available for oxidation to sulfuric acid and that microorganisms play a partial role in this process.