Patent ID: 8871099

Claim:
A method for dewatering a coal slurry, comprising the steps of: providing a conveyor belt having first and second sides, the first side being water-impermeable and the second side having pores and being water-permeable, wherein the water-permeable side includes a layer of water-absorbent material; driving said conveyor belt along a continuous loop which passes through a plurality of stages, including: placing a coal slurry containing coal particles and water in contact with the second side of the conveyor belt; compressing the coal slurry against the second side of the conveyor belt so that water from the coal slurry is absorbed into the water absorbent layer and the moisture content of the remaining coal slurry is substantially reduced; then removing the remaining coal slurry from the conveyor belt; and then squeezing the conveyor belt between rollers so as to drive the water that has been absorbed in the water absorbent layer back out the second side of the belt, which also backflushes the pores of the second side to clean out small diameter coal particles that may have embedded in the pores.