25. Upgrading of Brown Coal by Slurry-Dewatering

Abstract

Victorian brown coal contains low ash and low sulfur. Therefore, we have been developing the Upgraded Brown Coal (UBC) process to refine the coal up to a clean solid fuel with low reactivity for spontaneous heating. The UBC process consists of a coal-oil slurry dewatering, coal-oil separation and oil recovery sections. This paper focuses on the behaviour of the coal during dewatering and the effects of oil and asphalt on the properties of the upgraded coal such as oxidation reactivity and spontaneous heating.