The focus of work being performed on hot coal gas desulfurization at the Morgantown Energy Technology Center is primarily in the use of zinc titanate sorbents; however, prior studies indicated that an alternate sorbent, manganese dioxide-containing ore in mixture with alumina (75 wt% ore 25 wt% Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) appears to be a strong contender to zinc-based sorbents. Manganese, for example, has a lower vapor pressure in the elemental state than zinc; hence, it is not as likely to undergo zinc-depletion from the sorbent surface upon loading and regeneration cycles. Also manganese oxide is less readily reduced to the elemental state than iron; hence, the range of reduction potentials for oxygen is somewhat greater than for zinc ferrite. In addition, thermodynamic analysis of the manganese-oxygen-sulfur system shows it to be less amenable to sulfation than zinc ferrite. Also manganese chlorides are much less stable and volatile than zinc chlorides. Potential also exists for utilization of manganese at higher temperatures than zinc ferrite or zinc titanate. This Eighth Quarterly Report documents progress in pelletizing and testing via thermo-gravimetric analysis of individual pellet formulations of manganese ore/alumina combinations and also manganese carbonate/alumina with two binders, dextrin and bentonite.