GB154605A - Improvements in and relating to the treatment of solid fuel for transportation thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Coal, lignite, oil-coke, or other carbonaceous solid is pulverized, freed from ash, and stabilized in liquid hydrocarbon sufficiently to permit of its transport through pipes. The composite, whether centrifuged, filtered, or decanted, or not from particles above colloidal limits may be used as a liquid fuel or to make gas, the liquid freed from particles above colloidal limits may be used repeatedly as carrier, itself becoming richer in colloidal molecular coals, and the separated oil-coated particles may be used as paste or solid fuel or to make briquettes. The stabilizers mentioned are alkali, e.g. 1/2 per cent lime-resin soap, 5-20 per cent of peptizers such as creosote, naphthalene, or water gas tar for bituminous coals, and 10-30 per cent of a liquid combustible, immiscible with the carrier hydrocarbon, e.g. tar if oil be the carrier. The blending is effected by reducing the coal so that at least 95 per cent passes through a screen of 100 meshes per linear inch and 85 per cent through a 200-mesh screen, and either heating the particles, stabilizer, and carrier to 65 to 95 DEG C. for up to 3 hrs., or passing them simultaneously through a coal pulverizing mill, a paint mill, or the like; or both heat and mechanical blending may be used simultaneously or successively. The viscosity of the oil carrier is preferably raised or reduced to about 20 DEG Engler at 20 DEG C. so that up to 45 per cent of coal may be satisfactorily stabilized. The coal may be freed from ash by air blast separators, sifters, or flotation, or other known chemical or mechanical treatment. The transport pipes are formed with irregularities to promote agitation, and hinder any settling out of particles during transit, and the composite may be heated to facilitate transit. Specifications 149,306, 165,418 to 165,424, and 160,754 are referred to. According to the Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) the coal may be de-ashed before, during, or after manufacture or transport of the composite. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.