Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10L—FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS
  • C10L5/00—Solid fuels
  • C10L5/02—Solid fuels such as briquettes consisting mainly of carbonaceous materials of mineral or non-mineral origin
  • C10L5/04—Raw material of mineral origin to be used; Pretreatment thereof
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10L—FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS
  • C10L5/00—Solid fuels
  • C10L5/02—Solid fuels such as briquettes consisting mainly of carbonaceous materials of mineral or non-mineral origin
  • C10L5/06—Methods of shaping, e.g. pelletizing or briquetting
  • C10L5/10—Methods of shaping, e.g. pelletizing or briquetting with the aid of binders, e.g. pretreated binders
  • C10L5/14—Methods of shaping, e.g. pelletizing or briquetting with the aid of binders, e.g. pretreated binders with organic binders
  • C10L5/20—Methods of shaping, e.g. pelletizing or briquetting with the aid of binders, e.g. pretreated binders with organic binders with sulfite lye
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10L—FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS
  • C10L5/00—Solid fuels
  • C10L5/40—Solid fuels essentially based on materials of non-mineral origin
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E50/00—Technologies for the production of fuel of non-fossil origin
  • Y02E50/30—Fuel from waste, e.g. synthetic alcohol or diesel

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a solid fuel, for example a reactive fuel which is equivalent to charcoal, and to a method of manufacture thereof.
• charcoal or barbecue briquettes There are already known various charcoal substitutes generally known as charcoal or barbecue briquettes. However these fuels suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, most charcoal or barbecue briquettes contain charcoal and are therefore also contributing to the depletion of the rain forest.
• Some known charcoal substitutes contain significant amounts of binders, and possibly also chemical lighting agents. These binders and lighting aids create gases and smoke which contaminate food and the vicinity of the cooking or heating appliance.
• binders in conventional charcoal and barbecue briquettes are starches, which because of the sugar content of such binders make the fuel prone to biodegradation, leading to fungal growth, and causing a lot of smoke during ignition and burning.
• charcoal substitutes containing or not containing charcoal are produced by making use c- a carbonisation process, which is just as polluting as the production of charcoal itself.
• the present invention seeks to overcome or reduce one or more of the above disadvantages.
• a solid fuel comprising a mixture of particles of at least one carbonaceous product, a dispersing or deflocculating agent, and a fibre material in fine fibrous form.
• An advantage of the above fuel is that it has excellent combustion properties. It is believed that the dispersing or deflocculating agent serves to expand the fuel product to separate the carbonaceous particles, while the individual fibres of the fibre material serve to bridge the cracks produced, so as to prevent the fuel product breaking up. This enables fuels such as anthracite to be employed, which in their original form can only safely be burnt in enclosed chambers such as furnaces.
• the fuel need not contain a binder and is not highly compacted.
• the particulate carbonaceous product is preferably anthracite fines, but it may alternatively or additionally comprise semi-anthracite, steam coal, bituminous coal , brown coal, coke, petroleum coke, charcoal and/or lignite.
• the dispersing or deflocculating agent is preferably a lignosulphonate, e.g a fractionated sodium salt of oxylignin. Alternatively, any other suitable dispersing or deflocculating agent may be used.
• the fibre material may be combustible or non- combustible. It preferably comprises paper especially waste paper. It may alternatively or additionally comprise cardboard, carton, sawdust, wood shavings, bagasse, straw, peat, cotton, man-made fibres or natural cellulosic material. Metal or ceramic material in fine fibrous form may alternatively or additionally be incorporated.
• the fibre material is preferably in the form of individual fibres; fibre clumps are not as effective at bridging the cracks to stop the fuel product falling apart.
• the carbonaceous products may constitute 5% to 95% by weight of the mixture, and preferably 7% to 55% by weight of the mixture.
• the anthracite preferably comprises 90% to 100% by weight of the carbonaceous products.
• the fibrous products may constitute at least 40% by weight of the remainder of the mixture, preferably 50% to substantially 100% by weight of the remainder of the mixture.
• An alkaline material such as lime or cement, is also preferably incorporated since this tends to neutralise any possible sulphur dioxide emissions by converting them to stable calcium sulphates which remain in the ash.
• the fuel may also contain an additional binding agent and/or water. In certain cases the dispersing or deflocculating agent simultaneously serves as a binding agent.
• the fuel may further contain a water-proofing agent, and/or a chemical lighting aid commonly referred to in the barbecue trade as quick light or instant light barbecue.
• a method of manufacturing a solid fuel comprising mixing particles of at least one carbonaceous product, a dispersing or deflocculating agent, a fibre material in fine fibrous form, and a liquid, forming the mixture into a pellet and drying the pellet to remove at least a substantial part of the liquid.
• the pellet may be a briquette, an ovoid, a block, or log - or ball-shaped, or of any other suitable shape.
• the liquid is preferably water.
• apparatus for manufacturing a solid fuel comprising means supplying particles of at least one carbonaceous product to a mixer which also receives a dispersing or deflocculating agent, a fibre material in fine fibrous form, and a liquid, means connected to the outlet of the mixer for forming the mixture into pellets, and drying means connected to the outlet of the pelletising means for supplying dried pellets.
• Means may also be provided for supplying a waterproofing agent to the mixer.
• the mixer and the pelletiser my be combined.
• Pelletising may be achieved by an extrusion, pan rolling, ring-roll, stamp press or any other suitable compacting, briquetting or moulding process.
• apparatus 10 comprises a hopper 11 which receives anthracite fines 12 from a conveyor or a vehicle.
• the output from hopper 11 is fed to a screener 14 and then to a mixer or tumbler 15.
• the anthracite fines most of which is below lmm in size, is mixed with a lignosulphonate dispersing agent, water, paper material, an alkaline material, ⁇ . binding agent and/or a plasticiser or lubricant.
• the preferred dispersing agent is a fractionated sodium salt of oxylignin which is sugar free.
• a preferred plasticiser is a hydroxyethylcellulose such as Natrosol.
• the product After thorough mixing the product is fed to an extruder 16 from which it emerges in briquette form to be passed to a drier 17. Drier 17 blows hot air over the fuel to dry it preferably to 4 to 6% final water content. The dried briquettes 18 are then passed to a stockpile 19 or are packed in a packing plant 20.
• the fuel product 18 comprises the anthracite particles spaced apart from each other by a few microns in a matrix of aqueous dispersing agent. Compacted anthracite is hard to ignite, but the fuel product 18 is easy to ignite.
• the final fuel product is porous which further increases its combustibility.
• compositions of the fuel expressed as parts by weight of the product before drying are as follows:
• the above described fuel has a number of advantages. In particular it burns without producing smoke or odour; thus pollution is substantially reduced since its manufacture is also pollution-free. It is easy to ignite, burns for a long time and is made from relatively cheap materials. Its production process is clean and simple and there is no health hazard to operating staff. There are no external emissions during manufacture, standard machinery is used in the manufacturing process, and the plant can operate continuously and is simple to control.
• the fuel may be suitable for outdoor use, e.g. for barbecues, or for indoor use in grates or boilers, whether domestic or industrial. Blast furnace use may also be possible.
• the fuel is especially suitable for barbecue use because it:
• the dispersing agent during drying of the fuel, may develop binding properties so that the separate binding agent may be omitted.
• the fibrous paper material may comprise waste paper, cardboard and/or carton. It may be replaced or supplemented by cotton, man-made fibres, or natural cellulosic material and/or a ceramic material. Other possible materials are sawdust, wood shavings, straw and peat. Alternatively or in addition fine metal fibres may be incorporated which have the advantages of further strengthening the fuel, increasing its storage life, and producing good heat conduction through the fuel thus ensuring quick drying and quick ignition.
• the anthracite fines may be supplemented or replaced by another ground down coal product such as semi anthracite, bituminous coal, coke, petroleum coke, and/or lignite. Charcoal can also be incorporated if desired.
• the paper material is fed straight into mixer 15.
• some or all of the paper may be first shredded in a shredder 26 and/or pulped in a pulping machine 27.
• the mixture emerging from mixer 15 is fed to a pan roller 22.
• the fuel is rolled into suitably-sized balls before being passed to drier 17.
• the output of mixer 15 is fed to a moulding machine 23 such as a ring roll press and then to drier 17.
• the output of mixer 15 is placed in moulds and left to dry out naturally, thus avoiding the cost of expensive drying apparatus.
• Any suitable compaction machine can be used instead of devices 16, 22, 23 for example a stamp press, a pelletiser or an injection moulding machine.
• suitable fuels may be provided in which the fibre material is not in individual fibre form. Also in certain mixtures a dispersing or deflocculating agent may not be required.

Landscapes

• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Solid Fuels And Fuel-Associated Substances (AREA)
• Glass Compositions (AREA)
• Fuel-Injection Apparatus (AREA)
• Mechanical Treatment Of Semiconductor (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

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Family Cites Families (4)

• 1991
  • 1991-05-22 GB GB919111021A patent/GB9111021D0/en active Pending
• 1992
  • 1992-05-22 EP EP92909554A patent/EP0639221A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1992-05-22 WO PCT/GB1992/000933 patent/WO1992020766A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1992-05-22 AU AU17515/92A patent/AU1751592A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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