The focus of work being performed on Hot Coal Gas Desulfurization at the Morgantown Energy Technology Center is primarily in the use of zinc ferrite and 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}) may be a viable alternative 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 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. Potential also exists for utilization of manganese at higher temperatures than zinc ferrite or zinc titanate. This Fifth Quarterly Report documents progress in pellet testing via thermogravimetric analysis of pellet formulation FORM4-A of a manganese ore/alumina combination. This formulation, described more fully in the Quarterly Technical Progress Report of October 15, 1993, consists of manganese carbonate combined with alundum. A 2-inch fixed-bed reactor has been fabricated and is now ready for subjecting pellets to cyclic loading and regeneration; however, a minor problem has arisen during the regeneration cycle in that sulfur tends to form and plug the exit tube during the early stage of regeneration. This problem is about to be overcome by increasing the flow rate of air during the regeneration cycle resulting in more oxidizing conditions and hence less tendency for sulfide sulfur (S{sup =}) to oxidize to the intermediate elemental form (S{sup o}) rather than to 4-valent (S{sup 4}).