One of the contaminants in coal is sulphur. The adverse impact of sulfur on coal, such as environmental pollution, degradation of steel quality, and reduction of coal’s thermal value, has led to the attention of sulfur separation methods in recent decades. Leaching (chemical dissolution) is one of the best methods for desulfurising coal, reducing sulfur in coal. In this study, hydrogen peroxide as an oxidising agent on sulfuric acid yield in reducing sulfur types of coal and chemical structure and the organic texture of high sulfur coal was investigated. The experiments were designed using a three-level response surface methodology with four duplicate points and 27 experiments. The independent variables studied were temperature, time, stirring speed and ratio of sulfuric acid to hydrogen peroxide. Dependent variables included reduction percentage of total, pyritic and organic sulfur. This study showed that 99.99% of total sulfur, 30.11% of pyritic sulfur and 69.08% of organic sulfur were reduced. These values were obtained at a temperature of 60°C, time 120 min, stirring speed 200 rpm and 3:1 ratio of sulfuric acid to hydrogen peroxide. Significant changes were observed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of the coal structure before and after desulphurisation. On the other hand, the studies showed no specific changes in the bonds related to the organic coal matrix. The results showed that this method could be used as a secure process for removing inorganic and organic sulfur without destroying the organic coal matrix.
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