High Energy Aggregates of Coal Fines and Beneficiated Organic-Carbon-Containing Feedstock

Abstract

A high energy processed biomass / coal blended compact aggregate composition made with a blending sub-system from a processed organic-carbon-containing feedstock made with a beneficiation sub-system and high energy coal is described. Renewable biomass feedstock passed through a beneficiation sub-system to reduce water content to below at least 20 wt % and an intracellular water-soluble salt reduction of at least 60% from that of unprocessed organic-carbon-containing feedstock on a dry basis. The processed feedstock is blended with sized high energy coal in a blending sub-system to form a blended aggregate that comprises at least 10 wt % of a coal having an energy density of at least 21 MMBTU / ton (24 GJ / MT) and at least 10 wt % of a processed biomass comprising a processed organic-carbon-containing feedstock with characteristics that include an energy density of at least 17 MMBTU / ton (19 GJ / MT) and a water-soluble intracellular salt content that is decreased more than 60 wt % on a dry basis for the processed organic-carbon-containing feedstock from that of unprocessed organic-carbon-containing feedstock.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to the production of biomass and coal aggregates.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The vast majority of fuels are distilled from crude oil or obtained from natural gas pumped from limited underground reserves, or mined from coal. As the earth's crude oil supplies become more difficult and expensive to collect and there are growing concerns about the environmental effects of coal other than clean anthracite coal, the world-wide demand for energy is simultaneously growing. Over the next ten years, depletion of the remaining world's easily accessible crude oil reserves, natural gas reserves, and low-sulfur bituminous coal reserves will lead to a significant increase in cost for fuel obtained from crude oil, natural gas, and coal.[0003]The search to find processes that can efficiently convert biomass to fuels and by-products suitable for transportation and / or heating is an important factor in meeting the ever-increasing ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The invention is a high energy processed biomass / coal blended compact aggregate that that has not been previously possible. Known blends of high energy coal and biomass comprise less than 30 wt percent biomass with a significantly lower energy density that lowers the energy density of at least 21 MMBTU / ton (24 GJ / MT) and with added salt impurities from the biomass. In addition, the invention allows the productive use of coal fines that comprise up to 50 wt % of a coal mining output and are currently stockpiled with little possibility of transporting the coal fines because of their potential explosive nature. The invention now allows aggregates with from 10 wt % to 90 wt % high energy coal fines with an energy density of at least 21 MMBTU / ton (24 GJ / MT) and from 10 wt % to 90 wt % processed biomass having an energy density of at least 17 MMBTU / ton (20 GJ / MT). The low water-soluble intracellular salt content of the processed biomass substantially reduces adverse corrosive wear and maintenance cleaning of the devices that is typical today. The uniform low water content and uniform, high energy density of the beneficiated organic-carbon-containing feedstock used to make the high energy coal / processed biomass aggregates allows for a wide variety of renewable organic-carbon-containing feedstock to be used in the heating subsystems of the process in a cost efficient manner. During the beneficiation section of the process, the substantial reduction of water-soluble salts reduces the adverse results that occur with the subsequent use of the processed organic-carbon-containing feedstock. In addition, energy needed to remove water from unprocessed organic-carbon-containing feedstock described above to a content of below 20 wt % and a substantial amount of the water-soluble salt with the invention is significantly less than for conventional processes. In some embodiments, the total cost per weight of the beneficiated feedstock is reduced by at least 60% of the cost to perform a similar task with known mechanical, physiochemical, or thermal processes to prepare renewable organic-carbon-containing feedstock for use in subsequent fuel making operations such as heating sub-systems such as an oxygen-deficient thermal sub-system or an oxygen-deficient microwave sub-system and blending sub-systems to make aggregates of high energy coal and processed biomass.

Problems solved by technology

As the earth's crude oil supplies become more difficult and expensive to collect and there are growing concerns about the environmental effects of coal other than clean anthracite coal, the world-wide demand for energy is simultaneously growing.

Over the next ten years, depletion of the remaining world's easily accessible crude oil reserves, natural gas reserves, and low-sulfur bituminous coal reserves will lead to a significant increase in cost for fuel obtained from crude oil, natural gas, and coal.

However, this feedstock typically contains too much water and contaminants such as water-soluble salts to make it an economical alternative to common sources of fuel such as coal, petroleum, or natural gas.

And, even if the plants were sun or kiln-dried, the natural and man-made chemicals and water-soluble salts that remain in the plant cells combine to create corrosion and disruptive glazes in furnaces.

Also, the remaining moisture lowers the heat-producing million British thermal units per ton (MMBTU per ton) energy density of the feedstock thus limiting a furnace's efficiency.

Thus, municipal waste facilities that process organic-carbon-containing feedstock, a broader class of feedstock that includes materials that contain plant cells, generally operate in an energy deficient manner that costs municipalities money.

Similarly, the energy needed to process agricultural waste, also included under the general term of organic-carbon-containing feedstock, for the waste to be an effective substitute for coal or petroleum are not commercial without some sort of governmental subsidies and generally contain unsatisfactory levels of either or both water or water-soluble salts.

The cost to suitably transport and / or prepare such feedstock in a large enough volume to be commercially successful is expensive and currently uneconomical.

Also, the suitable plant-cell-containing feedstock that is available in sufficient volume to be commercially useful generally has water-soluble salt contents that result in adverse fouling and contamination scenarios with conventional processes.

Attempts have been made to prepare organic-carbon-containing feedstock as a solid renewable fuel, coal substitute, or binders for the making of coal aggregates from coal fines, but these have not been economically viable as they generally contain water-soluble salts that can contribute to corrosion, fouling, and slagging in combustion equipment, and have high water content that reduces the energy density to well below that of coal in large part because of the retained moisture.

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