Synthetic fuel comprising coal dust, water and a reactive organic compound, and a process for making such synthetic fuel

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a synthetic fuel made of coal dust, water and an organic chemical reactive with the coal dust to form a chemical bond with the coal dust upon compacting to provide a product very similar to coal. The inventive product surprisingly in some case provides higher BTU value than coal alone (up to 5 to 1000 BTU per ton more than counterpart coal), does not produce the waste ash at the users' facility of inorganic chemicals (and many organic chemicals such as tar) and can solve a moisture problem of coal dust and give even more increased green strength.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A synthetic fuel composition, comprising: 
 (a) at least about 90 wt. % of coal dust;    (b) from about 0.5 to 80 wt. % based on the weight of the coal dust of one or more organic chemicals reactive with said coal dust, and    (c) water.    
     
     
         2 . A fuel composition according to  claim 1 , wherein the coal dust is obtained from a coal manufacturing plant at or near a mine site.  
     
     
         3 . A fuel composition according to  claim 1 , wherein the coal dust is from anthracite coal.  
     
     
         4 . A fuel composition according to  claim 1 , wherein the organic chemical is a copolymer of one or more sodium acrylates and acrylamides.  
     
     
         5 . A fuel composition according to  claim 1 , which has been compacted.  
     
     
         6 . A fuel composition according to  claim 1  wherein one or more of organic chemicals is selected from the group consisting of: 
 a) functionized starches, and  
 b) copolymers of sodium acrylates and acrylamides, and  
 c) mixtures thereof.  
 
     
     
         7 . The fuel composition according to  claim 1  wherein the organic chemical is a copolymer of sodium acryrlate and acrylamide.  
     
     
         8 . The synthetic fuel composition according to  claim 1 , wherein the organic additive is selected from the group consisting of polysaccharide resins, copolymers of sodium acrylate and acrylamide and mixtures thereof.  
     
     
         9 . The synthetic fuel composition according to  claim 1 , wherein at least about 90% of the particle sizes of the coal dust are 50 microns or less.  
     
     
         10 . A synthetic fuel component comprising: 
 (a) at least about 90 wt. % of coal dust;    (b) about 0.5 to 8 wt. % based on the weight of the coal dust of one or more functionalized starches; and    (c) water.    
     
     
         11 . The synthetic fuel composition according to  claim 10 , where the functionalized starch is selected from the group consisting of Lorama starches JK270, JA250, JA250-3, ECØPlus, and ECØ.  
     
     
         12 . A method of making synthetic fuel composition, comprising: 
 (a) mixing at least about 90 wt. % of coal dust with water and with one or more organic chemicals reactive with said coal dust to form a composition; and    (b) compacting the composition; thereby forming the synthetic fuel composition.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein at least about 90 wt. % of the particle sizes of the coal dust is 50 microns or less.  
     
     
         14 . A method of making a synthetic fuel composition according to  claim 12 , wherein compaction is provided by a pug mill.