Bioelimination of sulfur from high-sulfur coal by selected strains of microorganisms

In this study, low-rank lignite coal sample collected from Lenger coal deposit (Turkestan province) in Kazakhstan was subjected to desulfurization by using three bacterial strains isolated from soil with silt and coal itself. The molecular identification of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the isolated bacteria were Atlantibacter sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp. denoted as S1, S2, and T1, respectively. Pseudomonas sp. showed the best result in removing organic sulfur (93%) and total sulfur (52%), while Bacillus sp. was effective in removing pyritic sulfur (19%) compared to other strains. However, Atlantibacter sp. had no significant influence on sulfur content after treatment, thereby reducing its chances to be used in decreasing sulfur content in lignite in future investigations. Additionally, this research would be valuable to develop an innovative biotechnological method for producing an environmentally friendly briquetted smokeless fuel from lignite.