Patent ID: 7383766

Claim:
A coal dewatering system comprising: a preheater vessel having a chamber for heating coal, an inlet means to permit the passage of coal into said chamber, and an outlet means for permitting the passage of coal from said chamber; heating means associated with the preheater vessel to heat coal contained in said chamber; to intimately mix the coal; and a dewatering unit adapted to receive said heated coal from said outlet means and to thereby dewater said coal, the dewatering unit comprising: a dewatering vessel having a coal containment volume, said coal containment volume having at least one side wall, at least a part of the at least one side wall having one or more apertures therein to allow passage of water therethrough, a dewatering inlet means for feeding coal to the coal containment volume, a dewatering outlet means for removing dewatered coal from the coal containment volume, the dewatering system characterized by the dewatering vessel comprising a press moveable in reciprocatory fashion along a line generally coincident with or generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the dewatering vessel, wherein in use said press compresses coal in said vessel to express water from the coal and the expressed water passes through the apertures in the at least one side wall of the coal containment volume and a sealing means for sealing the outlet means to thereby prevent coal passing through the outlet means during compression of the coal.