Abstract:

An experiment was made to study the anaerobic metabolism of organic components in coal by the SRBs (sulfate-reducing bacteria) using the groundwater samples of the Carboniferous Taiyuan Formation limestone aquifer containing bacteria and the coal samples of Shanxi Formation from mine-pit of 530 m depth at Panbei coal-mine in Huainan coal-field. A SRB strain S890 was cultured and isolated from the groundwater samples and was identified as Desulfovibrio sp. by S16 rRNA gene sequencing. The methanol extracts of the coal samples were analyzed with GC-MS, and 21 kinds of chief organic compounds were identified known as senior chain, cyclic and aromatic hydrocarbons as well as hydrocarbon derivatives. Three >C12 compounds (2,6-Di-tert-butyl4-methylphenon, 2-hexyl1-Decanol and Naphthalene,2,6-dimethyl) selected from the 21 compounds were measured as carbon sources in a 27-day SRB anaerobic cultivating experiment and concentration variation of SO2-4, H2S and FeS during the cultivating procedure in the controlled experiment, and the results reflected that 2,6-Di-tert-butyl4-methylphenon and 2-hexyl1-Decanol were evidently anaerobically degraded by Desulfovibrio sp., but Naphthalene,2,6-dimethyl was not. It was concluded from the experiment that the SRBs in groundwater in coal seams utilized some macromolecular organic compounds in the coals as carbon sources for their anaerobic growth.

Key words: SRB(sulfate reducing bacteria), coal seam, groundwater, organic compounds, anaerobic metabolism