A.p.-t.p.r. investigation of the effect of nitric acid leaching on the sulphur distribution in coal

The effect of nitric acid leaching on the sulphur distribution in Emma and Mequinenza coal was studied here, as previous work demonstrated that nitric acid was able to remove more than just inorganic sulphur under certain exp erimental conditions. In contrast with standard methods, in which nitric ac id is used to remove pyritic sulphur, atmospheric pressure-temperature prog rammed reduction (a.p.-t.p.r.) was used to specify which organic sulphur fu nctionalities are easily removed by nitric acid treatment, and which are mo re difficult to remove. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.