Improvements in the Manufacture of Fuel from Coal Slack and similar Substances and in Obtaining Hydrocarbons therefrom.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 12th July, 1888
Complete Specification Left; 14th Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 21st Dec., 1888
Improvements in the Manufacture of Fuel from Coal Slack and
similar Substances and in Obtaining Hydrocarbons therefrom.
JOHN BOWING of 259 Gresham House Old Broad Street in the City of London
Consulting Chemist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the processes which have been hitherto followed in the successful manufacture of
bricks or briquettes of coal the coal is reduced to a more or less finely divided
condition and mixed with a certain proportion of pitch or tar varying from eight or
nine to twenty per cent. avoiding and eliminating moisture as far as possible in the
process of manufacture. The sticky mixture is compressed into bricks of the desired
form. The result is a brick in which the pitch is by no means uniformly distributed
and the compressing machine which is required is both cumbersome and costly.
According to my invention I take the coal or other fuel substance in a more or
less finely divided state and I pour over it a considerable quantity of water and to this
I add a small amount of tar or pitch or tar and pitch or I may add the tar or
pitch or tar and pitch first and then the water, I then sufficiently heat and at the
same time continually agitate the mixture in some convenient manner.
The quantity of water must be so large that the mixture of coal water and tar
or pitch is somewhat of the consistency of wet concrete that is to say somewhat
like slush. The actual amount of tar or pitch or tar and pitch which will best
produce the result aimed at will vary with different classes of coal but the amount
of water, provided there is enough of it, may be varied within wide limits. The
amount of tar or pitch or tar and pitch used will vary from about one and a
half per cent. to five or more per cent. of the coal. But this may be at once
determined for any particular kind of coal by observing whether snfficient tar or
pitch or tar and pitch has been added to cause the coal to 'set' as hereinafter
mentioned.
The effect of the process appears to be that the whole of the tar or pitch is
taken up and becomes distributed in an almost uniform manner throughout the
coal and when the coal is allowed to cool it sets and the water may be either

page_text: drained or squeezed out or evaporated. This mixture of coal and tar or pitch
may be pressed if desired but it will in many cases set on cooling into a hard
block without any. pressure and this setting will take place even below the water.
In working with some classes of coal fuel such for example as highly carbonaceous
coals like anthracite 1 may find it necessary to give the mass an additional heating
after it has been taken out of the vessel where it has been mixed and agitated so
as to obtain the required hardness.
The fuel so obtained is much more uniform in composition and contains less
pitch or tar and is much cleaner to the touch and freer from dust than any
artificial fuels which have been made hitherto.
.
I have also discovered that when the mixture of tar coal and water such as
that above described is heated and agitated the hydrocarbons which when tar
alone is heated come off at high temperatures and in a badly defined manner,
now come off at much lower temperatures and are much more distinctly defined,
so that I am enabled to obtain each distillate in a much purer form that is to
say, less mixed with other distillates whose boiling points are near to the one in
question than is the case when tar alone is distilled.

page_text: similar Substances and in Obtaining Hydrocarbons therefrom.
I, JOHN BOWING of 259 Gresham House, Old Broad Street in the City of
London, Consulting Chemist, do hereby declaro the nature of my invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the processes which have been hitherto followed in the successful manufacture
of bricks or briquettes of coal, the coal is reduced to a more or less finely divided
condition and mixed. with a certain proportion of pitch or tar varying from 8 or 9
to 20 per cent. avoiding and eliminating moisture as far as possible in the process
of manufacture. The sticky mixture is compressed into bricks of the desired form.
The result is a brick in which the pitch is by no means uniformly distributed
and the compressing machine which is required is both cumbersome and costly.
According to my invention I take the coal coke or other fuel substance in a
more or less finely divided state and I pour over it a considerable quantity of
water and to this I add a small amount of tar or pitch or tar and pitch or I
may add the tar or pitch or tar and pitch first and then the water. If tar and
water alone have been used I then continually agitate the mixture in some con-
venient manner for a few minutes until the substances have become thoroughly
mixed and in some cases I heat the same. If however pitch has been used the
extent that it will
application of heat sufficient to soften the pitch to such an
mix with the other bodies, will be necessary. The quantity of water must be so
large that the mixture of coal water and tar or pitch is somewhat of the
consistency of wet concrete that is to say somewhat like slush. The actual amount
of tar or pitch or tar and pitch which will best produce the result aimed at will
vary with different classes of coal but the amount of water provided there is
enough of it, may be varied within wide limits. The amount of tar or pitch or
tar and pitch used will vary from about 1½ per cent. to 5 or more per cent. of the
coal. But this may be at once determined for any particular kind of coal by observing
whether sufficient tar or pitch or tar and pitch has been added to cause the coal to
"
set as hereinafter mentioned.
"
The effect of the process appears to be that the whole of the tar or pitch is taken
up and becomes distributed in a uniform manner throughout the coal or coke. The
mixture may now be formed into suitable blocks or briquettes from which the water
may be either squeezed out or allowed to drain out.
I find it is usually desirable to dry the blocks which may be done either by
exposing them to the air, or more rapidly by gently heating them.
By my process I am able to prepare briquettes from coal and coke dust so
solid and firm that they may be used as fuel in the furnace of a locomotive.

page_text: The fuel so obtained is much more uniform in composition and contains-less
pitch or tar and is much cleaner to the touch and freer from dust than. any arti-
ficial fuels which have been made hitherto. I have also discovered that when the
mixture of tar, coal and water such as that above described is heated whether the
same. has been formed into briquettes or before, that the hydrocarbons which when
tar alone is heated come off at high temperatures and in a badly defined manner,
now come off at much lower temperatures and are much more distinctly defined,
so that I am enabled to obtain each distillate in a much purer form that is to
say less mixed with other distillates whose boiling points are near to the one in
question than is the case when tar alone is distilled. In some cases I distil and
collect the said bydrocarbons from the briquettes, and in carrying out this part
of my invention I place the briquettes in a closed vessel or still and gradually
raise their temperature and continue the heat until the hydrocarbons to be collected
have ceased to come off.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1st. The manufacture of fuel from coal and coke slack, breeze, and similar
substances by mixing the same with water and tar or pitch and treating the
mixture substantially in the manner above described.
2nd. Extracting the hydrocarbons from briquettes prepared as above by heating
the same substantially in the manner above described.
Dated this 14th day of November 1888.
BROWNE & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.