Desulphurization of Kütahya/Gediz lignite using H2O2/H2SO4 solutions and optimization of leaching parameters by the Taguchi’s method

Köksal Öztürk D., Levent M., Gündoğan K.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL PREPARATION AND UTILIZATION, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-23, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 1 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL PREPARATION AND UTILIZATION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Chemical Abstracts Core, Compendex, Environment Index, INSPEC
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-23
  • Uşak Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Direct combustion of coal produces high amount of SOx compounds

and it has many negative environmental impacts. Hence, desulphurization

process of coal has very important role for environmental

perspective. The present work investigated optimization of leaching

parameters for the desulfurization of Kütahya/Gediz lignite using the

Taguchi method which contains high amount of sulfur (7.24%) by H2

O2/H2SO4 acidic media. Reaction temperature, reaction time, stirring

speed, particle size, and concentrations of H2O2 and H2SO4 were

selected as leaching parameters. The design matrix of 37 experiments

was prepared to perform analysis of variance (ANOVA) during the

desulphurization experimental period. Taguchi’s optimization results

show that, temperature was found to be the most effective, while time

was the least effective parameter for optimum sulfur removal from

Gediz coal. The optimum operating conditions for desulphurization

process were found as 90°C leaching temperature, 500 rpm stirring

speed, 210 min leaching time, 0.110 μm particle size, 5 M H2O2 concentration

and 6 M H2SO4 concentration. Under these optimum conditions,

the maximum removal yield was 68.61% for total sulfur,

96.48% for pyritic sulfur, 17.12% for organic sulfur and 11.54% for

ash content.