Patent ID: 7407121

Claim:
A method of providing a controlled batch of nanometer-sized coal material, comprising the steps of: (a) specifying at least one desired physical and/or chemical parameter of the controlled batch of coal material; (b) specifying the desired range of the physical and/or chemical parameter that is to be deliberately provided in the controlled batch of coal material; (c) obtaining a feedstock batch of coal material for use in obtaining the specified physical and/or chemical parameter of the end product by at least one of the following: 1) performing ultimate analysis for carbon, hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen composition; 2) performing proximate analysis for at least one of ash, volatile, fix carbon and moisture content; 3) performing bulk purity determination; 4) performing a maceral composition determination; 5) performing size selection via sieve and/or electronic particle size determination methods; 6) performing ash fusion temperature determination; 7) performing ash composition determination; or 8) any combination thereof; (d) processing a feedstock batch of coal material to obtain the controlled batch of coal material having the at least one specified physical and/or chemical parameter in the specified range thereof by: 1) introducing the feedstock batch of coal material to a beneficiation step causing elimination of unwanted materials, thereby creating beneficiated material; 2) introducing the beneficiated material to either (a) a direct classification step, which concentrates particles in the feedstock batch of coal material at a targeted mean size, thereby creating directly classified material, or (b) subjecting the beneficiated material to a size reduction step, which causes finer sized particles and/or particle shaping in the feedstock batch of coal material, thereby creating size reduced 3) if the beneficiated material is introduced to the direct classification step, transferring the directly classified material to a characterization step for determining physical and/or chemical parameters of the controlled batch of coal material; and 4) if the beneficiated material is introduced to the size reduction step: (i) subjecting the size reduced material to a purification step for reducing or eliminating process contaminants and/or newly liberated intrinsic impurities from larger particles, thereby creating purified material; (ii) transferring the purified material to a classification step, which concentrates the particles of the purified material at a targeted mean size, thereby creating classified material; and (iii) transferring the classified material to a characterization step for determining physical and/or chemical properties of the controlled batch of coal material.