THE TREATMENT OF COAL FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING USEFUL PRODUCTS THerefrom.
Year: 1879

page_text: 26
LETTERS PATENT to Charles Tellier, of No. 99, Route de Versailles, Paris, in
IMPROVEMENTS
the Republic of France, Civil Engineer; for the Invention of
IN THE TREATMENT OF COAL FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING USEFUL
PRODUCTS THerefrom.'
Sealed the 30th April 1880, and dated the 3rd November 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Tellier at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd November 1879.
CHARLES TELLIER, of No. 99, Route de Versailles, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF COAL FOR THE PURPOSE
OF OBTAINING USEFUL PRODUCTS THEREFROM."
This Invention has for object the separation of inert matters from coal by means
of liquids which are sufficiently dense for separating the coal from the said
matters.
The separation may be effected by simple precipitation of the heavy matters, or
by drawing off the lighter coal.
The liquids which I have found it advantageous to employ are the concentrated
solutions of cloride, of calcium, or of magnesium.
The separated matters are drained, then methodically washed for recovering the
solution, which is concentrated by heat so as to serve indefinitely.
The concentration may be effected in a triple acting apparatus, or in a boiler
furnishing steam at a suitable pressure.
t
The washed coal is left to drain and dry, which operation may be accelerated by
placing it in a centrifugal or other suitable apparatus.
The waste is ground or broken to extract the little coal which may remain and
the plumbago or other useful substance which accompanies it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Tellier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd May
1880.
CHARLES TELLIER, of No. 99, Route de Versailles, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF COAL FOR THE PURPOSE
OF OBTAINING USEFUL PRODUCTS THEREFROM."
Coal contains various kinds of foreign bodies necessitating expense of main-
tenance and useless transport, besides encumbering the fires where such coal is
burnt. In treating small coal for the manufacture of coke or for agglomerated fuel
the washing of the coal is effected with water, but this washing gives such incomplete
results that it is not generally employed.
Now my Invention consists in washing the coal in solutions sufficiently strong
for effecting the separation of the inert matters, instead of employing simple water
as hitherto.
All liquids which are sufficiently dense to allow the coal to float therein may be
employed, but I prefer to employ solutions of chloride of calcium or of magnesium,
as these possess the advantage of being low in price and easily dissolved in water
in any proportions, and of forming solutions of sufficient density for effecting
the separation of the inert matters. This separation may be facilitated when
working with coal of great density by giving a rapid circulation to the washing
liquid either in a vertical or horizontal direction, but this circulation will be rarely
required.
The carrying out of my Invention involves two principal operations, videlicet, the
separation of the inlet matters and the recovery of the separating liquid drawn off
by the substances operated on.
For separating the inert matters I throw a quantity of coal in a bath of chloride
of calcium at 45 degrees (which is the degree I have found to give good results, but
which may be varied), and immediately the coal will be seen to separate into two
parts, the light part floating to the surface, whilst a portion of the mass operated
upon will fall to the bottom of the receiver; this part is the waste product, and its
proportion will vary from 10 to 15 or 16 per cent. according to the quality of the
coal.
This operation may be carried out on a large scale in the following manner :-
A cistern with bituminous walls (for preventing it being attacked by the liquid
employed) is dug in the ground or built above it by means of suitable walls of
sufficient strength and resistance. The lower part of this cistern terminates in the
form of a cone, which communicates with a pump so constructed as to be able to
work, whatever be the quantity of solid matter drawn off, and it is by means of
this cone and pump that the waste products are drawn off. The proportion between
the delivery of the pump and the volume of the waste products to be extracted may
be estimated as 1 to 5, that is to say, 5 volumes of chloride to 1 volume of waste.
At the upper part of the cistern is placed a breaker, which allows the coal to enter
the bath at a given size only. The coal may be treated in pieces of any size, but
as the lumps contain crevices enclosing foreign matters it is preferable to break up
the coal in such a manner as to entirely expose these foreign bodies.
This breaker (which may be of any construction) receives the coal by means of a
large hopper arranged for receiving the coal either from the trollies or the trucks
which bring it, and it serves both for regulating the size of the coal and for dis-
tributing it. By its action the coal falls into the separating bath, the heavier
matters going to the bottom, whilst the light ones float. This operation may be

page_text: facilitated by the action of an agitator kept constantly in motion, so as to dis-
seminate the matters, whereby the lighter portions are driven towards the edges, or
a rotating and diverging bottom may be used to force them out and escape with the
current of chloride which is constantly overflowing. It will thus be seen that the
inert matters escape at the bottom part in a current of chloride, whilst the coal
escapes in a current of chloride at the upper part.
In both cases the mass drawn off falls on a flat surface of wire cloth or of per-
forated sheet metal, the chloride passing through the holes, whilst the separated
matters on either side are drained on an inclined surface, which conveys the drained
solution to an ordinary draining well, from which it is drawn by a special pump
and conducted to the cistern. By this arrangement it will be understood that the
action is constant, and the waste products are collected on one side, and on the
other side is collected the coal which has been purified as much as possible. These
matters however contain chloride, which it is necessary to separate therefrom for
two reasons; firstly, because however cheap the chloride may be the operation
would not be practicable; and, secondly, because it would have a bad effect on the
combustion.
To recover the liquid I make use of the affinity which it possesses for water.
At the egress from the apparatus the products have been left to drain, and twenty
four hours is generally given for this drainage, the chlorides in solution circulating
less rapidly in the mass than pure water.
In order to facilitate the work it has been already stated that the coal instead of
falling on the ground falls into trucks with perforated bottoms. The rails on which
the trucks run are mounted on impermeable basins forming cisterns. The drainage
thus takes place into these cisterns, and a suitably arranged pump withdraws the
chloride produced from this drainage for reconducting it into the separating cistern.
When this drainage is terminated I cause the trucks to pass over five successive
cisterns, or even ten if found necessary; the coal is there watered for sufficient time
and in the following manner :-
The last truck receives pure water and the coal no longer containing chloride;
the water which escapes is thrown into the preceding tank, the coal is washed, and
the solution of chloride again falls a little more charged. It is again taken up to
be thrown on the truck which precedes, and so on until it reaches the truck which
serves for draining off the liquid.
By means of this methodical washing it is easy to see that the water employed
is utilized with as little loss in quantity as possible, and that in consequence it is
almost concentrated chloride which egresses from the wagon next to the draining
wagon.
This chloride, however rich it may be, should not be immediately returned to
the separating cistern, but it must be first boiled in order to drive off the excess of
water which it contains. To effect this boiling economically it is advantageous
to employ a triple action apparatus, and then not to allow it to enter the cistern.
until after it has been passed through a changer in such a manner that the concen-
trated liquid arriving in the separating cistern shall be cooled by heating the liquid
on its passage to be concentrated in the triple action apparatus.
This apparatus may be replaced by a pressure boiler in such a manner that the
solution to be concentrated shall produce vapours under pressure which may be
utilized in the steam engine which drives the machinery.
The same operation is employed for the waste products in such a manner that
the chloride is constantly returned to the separating cistern.
The washed coal is left to drain so as to get rid of the water which it contains,
and this operation should be carried out as much as possible in covered sheds. The
waste products are treated with hydro-chloric acid to separate the calcareous matters
which they contain, and with sulphuric acid for converting the iron into soluble

page_text: sulphate; they are then heated with any suitable flux, and will give off the plumbago
which they contain. A suitable treatment will cause them to give up all other
useful matters which they contain, according to their production.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Tellier, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.
211
MATTION
CH. TELLIER. (L.S.)