Briquetting Process
White Energy’s Exclusive Technology
The Binderless Coal Briquetting Company (BCBC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of White Energy Technology Limited. It provides a new agglomeration process for coal which has strong economic and practical advantages over current methods for agglomerating coal.
White Energy has the worldwide exclusive license to this patented coal upgrading technology (17 years of patent protection remaining) (“the White Technology”).
The White Technology was developed by CSIRO, (the Australian government sponsored research organisation); in conjunction with TraDet Inc, K.R. Komarek Inc and The Griffin Coal Mining Company Pty Ltd and has been independently tested and proven to be significantly more competitive from an operational and cost perspective to competing technologies.The White Technology has been successfully tested on various coals throughout the world including coals from Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, China and the United States of America.
The White Technology has developed into a commercially viable process capable of producing low moisture, physically and chemically stable briquettes from sub-bituminous coal at large scale and with attractive economics. It turns relatively poor quality coal into higher quality, more environmentally friendly coal with resultant significant cost benefits at both the transportation and processing levels.
The White Technology process brings the fine coal particles into contact with each other under specific conditions (which do not include heating) causing the coal particles to bond together with bonding mechanisms much the same as what exist within the coal structure itself. The process involves a combination of thermal drying and roll briquetting and produces a strong handleable briquette with moisture levels around 2% to 5% for bituminous coals.
When applied to sub-bituminous coals, which may have moisture levels greater than 30%, the process produces a stable briquette which can be stockpiled without fear of degradation or spontaneous combustion and with moisture levels around 7% to 10%. Consequently the BCB process can enable major improvements in the efficiency of transporting and utilising these coals.
The White Technology process generates higher quality coal with the effect that the resultant coal:
- Has a higher energy content - Demonstrated to produce ~11,000 BTU/lb (6,200 kcal/kg) coal briquettes from ~8,000 BTU/lb (4,500 kcal/kg) sub bituminous coal. An increase of 37.5% in heat energy output
- Has significantly reduced transport costs - Reduced moisture (relative reduction of 74 – 81%) content leads to drop in load volumes by 20-30% and corresponding drop in transportation costs
- Has a controlled and consistent size and chemistry;
- Has a significantly lower risk of spontaneous combustion - handled/transported as normal coal, does not generate excessive fines and reduces danger of spontaneous combustion
- Has significant green house gas emission benefits - Increased energy value leads to more efficient burning. Higher value energy release with lower carbon emission resulting in the potential for carbon credits
- Has a higher economic value - Processing costs are low allowing product to compete favorably with bituminous coals
- Has very little inner particle voidage – The briquettes produced from the process have a density greater than that of the original coal. In addition the low voidage results in very low moisture re-absorption by the briquette, helping to maintain a low moisture product
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In addition to the upgrading of sub-bituminous coals, the White Technology process has been shown to produce a sized product of consistent quality for use as a reductant in electric arc smelters for alloy metals and new steel making processes that require a consistent sized feed. Having spent years refining the technology, BCBC is now in commercial negotiations to exploit the technology in Indonesia, China, USA and South Africa. The construction of the first commercial plant (located in Indonesia) started in late 2006 and hopes to be in production by late 2007.
BCBC Process Animation
White Energy has developed an animation of our BCBC Process. To play this animation, please view our BCBC Process Animation webpage.
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