Bench scale development of the TRW process for cleaning coal (gravimelt process). Topical report for Task 8 solid-liquid separation

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6323640

Desulfurization and demineralization of coal utilizing the TRW Gravimelt Process results in two major process streams requiring solid-liquid separation. In the production of clean coal, the caustic and caustic-soluble reaction products are removed from the coal, in a sequence of steps involving the washing of coal-caustic cake with dilute aqueous caustic, dilute sulfuric acid, and water. In the regeneration of spent caustic, lime and zinc oxide are added to form caustic-insoluble products, which are then separated from the caustic. three types of solid-liquid separation operations were investigated in the experimental effort: vacuum filtration, pressure filtration, and centrifugation. The test results indicated that vacuum filtration can successfully separate coal from the concentrated aqueous caustic, whereas centrifuges are ideally suited to separate coal from dilute aqueous caustic, dilute acid, and wash water streams. The tests also demonstrated excellent separation of caustic from either the insoluble sulfide or the insoluble mineral matter compounds by centrifugation. An engineering assessment was performed to determine the cost impacts or the solid-liquid separations on the overall economics of the Gravimelt Process. The analysis results showed that the capital change for these operations would amount to approximately $3 per ton of coal product, or only a few percent of the total cost for producing Gravimelt coal. 4 refs., 5 figs., 10 tabs.

• Research Organization: TRW Space and Technology Group, Redondo Beach, CA (USA). Energy Div.
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-83PC63032
• OSTI ID: 6323640
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/63032-T9; ON: DE86006780
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010402* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Purification & Upgrading
013000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Transport
Handling
& Storage
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CENTRIFUGATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
COAL
COST
DATA
DEMINERALIZATION
DESULFURIZATION
DIAGRAMS
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FILTRATION
FLOWSHEETS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL SLURRIES
FUELS
GRAVIMELT PROCESS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
INFORMATION
LIQUIDS
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SLURRIES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM HYDROXIDES
SOLIDS
SOUND WAVES
SUSPENSIONS
ULTRASONIC WAVES