Development of a gas-promoted oil agglomeration process. Quarterly technical progress report, July 1--September 30, 1996

The series of agglomeration tests designed to study the agglomeration characteristics of Pittsburgh No. 8 coal with i-octane was continued using a larger agitated tank. This series is designed to determine the effects of various parameters on the size and structure of the agglomerates formed, the rate of agglomeration, coal recovery, and ash rejection. The results reported here show that once spherical agglomerates are formed they continue to grow at almost a constant rate which is proportional to the concentration of i-octane. The constant growth rate is interrupted when spherical agglomerates combine to form large clusters. This only seems to occur with a large concentration of i-octane (e.g., 30 v/w%) and limited agitator power. The present results also show that coal recovery and ash rejection are highly dependent on agglomerate size when the mean agglomerate diameter is less than the size of the openings in the screen used for recovering the agglomerates