Ram pressing: An almost extinct technology with interesting new applications in coal and other solid fuel processing

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2000

OSTI ID:20034310

Pietsch, W

In response to the need for cheap carbon-based fuel for the quickly expanding use of steam engines in factories and locomotives, around 1850 extrusion presses for the binderless briquetting of peat and coal were inverted in the USA (1848, Easby), England (1853, Gwynne), and Germany (1855, Exter). The Exter press became the world's first commercially acceptable extrusion press for peat. In 1958, the first Exter press was built for the briquetting of brown coal (lignite). While, at the beginning, large briquettes were produced, mostly for firing steam locomotives, the technology soon evolved into an important technique for processing the vast European lignite deposits into briquettes for industrial and home heating. Many plants with hundreds of presses (one supplier sold in 100 years more than 1,400 presses to customers in Germany alone) were built and operated until, beginning around 1960, lignite had to be replaced by cleaner fuels. The particular advantage of ram presses is their ability to densify organic matter and produce strong, permanently bonded briquettes without the addition of binders. Soon after the introduction of Exter presses for the briquetting of brown coals and continuing until this application reached its peak, the heating value of the always very wet coal was increased by drying prior to briquetting. Similar efforts are underway in the USA for subbituminous coals, for example, where the ram press technology could find a new field of application. Other new uses may be the production of coal logs for pipeline transport and the briquetting of coal fines, organic wastes, biomass, and other opportunity fuels.

• Research Organization: COMPACTCONSULT, Inc., Naples, FL (US)
• OSTI ID: 20034310
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
09 BIOMASS FUELS
BIOMASS
BRIQUETTING
COAL PREPARATION
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
ORGANIC WASTES
PERFORMANCE
PRESSES
SUBBITUMINOUS COAL
USES