GB244517A - An improved binder for binding an aggregate and process of manufacturing same - Google Patents

Abstract

244,517. Carpenter, S. W., and White, G. N. Sept. 16, 1924. Plastic compositions containing humus. - A binding agent for use particularly in the manufacture of fuel briquettes is prepared by subjecting soft vegetable tissue to aerobic fermentation with retention of the non-gaseous fermentation products, and adding alkali to the material either before, during, or after the treatment. Suitable vegetable materials are straw, water weeds, cactus, pricklv pear, rushes, grass, bagasse, beet sugar residues, sisal, hemp, flax residue, soya bean waste, and leaves or stems of bracken banana, maize, and potato. They are prefetrably used fresh cut, but a partly fermented material, such as hay, may be used if it has retained substantially all the non-gaseous fermentation products. The alkali may be partly replaced by an alkaline earth, and it may be added in two stages. The binding agent may be desiccated for transport and subsequently restored to its original form by kneading with water. Several examples of the method of preparing the binding agent are given, of which the following is typical 1 cwt. of dried grass is boiled for 24 hours, the liquid is drained away, and the residue is bruised or brushed, placed in a shallow wooden tray, and watered with 2 gallons of solution containing 2“ lbs. of sodium carbonate. 2 lb. of decayed fruit or grass is added to aid fermentation, and the mixture is allowed to stand in a warm place and is periodically turned over and moistened with the liquor from the boiling operation. The product is ready for use in 24 days. Further fermentation may be prevented by a small addition of copper sulphate or other fungicide. In the manufacture of fuel briquettes the amount of binder is usually 1/6 of the fuel, but as little as 1 per cent may be used if high pressure is employed. The fuel may be mixed either with the wet binding-agent, or with the desiccated binder and water, or with the raw materials before fermentation. Specifications 14389/04 and 226,344. [both in Class 50, Fuel, Manufacture of], are referred to. The Provisional Specification describes the production of binding-agents by the above-described method from decomposed vegetable matter such as peat, lignite, and coal, and from soil rich in humus.