Comprehensive Study of the Bioconversion of Coal Using Laboratory Core Flooding Experiments

• Author / Creator

  Stephen, Anil

• Core flooding experiments were performed to understand in-situ coal bioconversion process. Subbituminous coal particles packed inside a biaxial core holder was inoculated with microbial culture and was continuously flooded with mineral salts medium and nitrogen rich nutrient solution. Colonization and conversion of coal by microbes was evident from the presence of metabolites and gases in the effluent. The identification of signature metabolites of anaerobic bioconversion of hydrocarbons shows fermentative microbes are able to convert the complex coal over a period of time to simple molecules such as acetic acid, which is a substrate for methanogenesis. Presence of succinic acid in the effluent, suggests that the coal bioconversion process can be used for extraction of other value-added product apart from CH4 generation. The results presented here indicate that the coal bioconversion by biostimulation at reservoir conditions is a scalable technology with great potential to reduce overall greenhouse gas emission.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Core flooding
  • Methane
  • Coal
  • Bioconversion

• Graduation date

  Spring 2014

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PG1HW9G

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.