Coal bioprocessing: A new vision and strategy for coal utilization

Traditionally the major usage of coal has been in power generation. Nevertheless, coal has unique properties not present in oil or gas. Harnessing these properties through biotechnology, ARCTECH`s Coal Biorefinery vision obtains value added products that enhance the economic value of coal and extend its application as a feedstock for production of value added commodity and specialty chemicals that have far reached uses in agriculture and environmental remediation. The paper discusses a process which utilizes an anaerobic microbial consortia to transform coal into a biogas, volatile fatty acids, fuel alcohols, and the residue into humic acids.