As one of the application of coal resources, domestic and overseas industries have been focusing on the recovery of methane from coal resources by methanogens using low-molecular weight acids or hydrogen that are converted from the organic matter in coal. For this application, it is essential to enhance the extraction of organic matter from low-rank coal (lignite) and maximize the conversion rate to consumable substrates for methanogen. In this study, we focused on the effects of chelating and reducing agents on the extraction of organics and metals from low-rank coal. Citric acid (chelating and reducing agent) and EDTA (chelating agent) were chosen as typical solvents. In the presence of citric acid, the Fe (II) concentration was correlated with the concentration of extracted organics as well as the total Fe. By contrast, the Fe (II) concentration was constantly at a low level for each EDTA concentration and pH. The absorbance (280 nm) of both solutions was almost the same when the total Fe concentrations were similar, regardless of the concentrations of Fe (II) , Al, Mg and Ca. These results indicated that organics from lignite were extracted with the leaching of Fe (III) and that the effects of reduction on the extraction of organics were insignificant. Excitation emission matrix spectra analysis suggested that humic acid was the main component of the extracted organics from lignite. The amount of acetic acid and formic acid released from 1g of lignite was calculated to be in the range 0.14 to 0.25 mg, and it was observed no correlation of the released amount with the citric acid /EDTA concentrations. Further research to obtain substrates such as low-molecularweight acids from the extracted organic materials is necessary for methane production using methanogens.
