The White Coal Technology Process

An Evolutionary Process
The White Coal Technology is an evolutionary process that speeds the maturation of lower grade coals. The upgrading technology removes coal moisture and improves heat content and quality to higher energy levels characteristic of valuable bituminous coals.

The White Coal Technology is a relatively simple process. Its main components have been proven in several industrial applications. Independent tests conducted by both expert engineers and coal producers have shown the process to be cost and operationally superior to competing technologies.

The process involves the crushing and drying of low value coals resulting in removal of the coal water content. Compaction then generates close bonding between the dried coal particles and eliminates nearly all voids. This forms a high density, higher energy content briquette with very low permeability—a key factor in providing stability against spontaneous combustion. The process can also be used as a means of producing stable and transportable lump coal from unwanted undersized fractions of high energy bituminous coals. Binderless briquettes are held together by the natural bonding mechanisms of coal; they do not require the binders that are normally used to briquette coal, which substantially reduces production costs.

Reforming dried coal into larger lumps, or briquettes, has been attempted for over 100 years. Except in some niche markets, past briquetting processes have had limited commercial success in producing a sufficiently stable product. The problem has always been finding a binder relatively cheap enough to viably apply and produce coal that is easy to handle and with limited risk of spontaneous combustion. The White Coal Technology meets these requirements.

What makes the White Coal Technology process different and more successful than past briquetting attempts is its ability to generate close bonding between the coal particles i.e. the application of the compaction force in such a way as to cause the particles to come into intimate contact and establish bonding between them. The White Coal Technology consists of two distinct sub-processes—drying and briquetting. The drying process provides coal with the correct characteristics as an input to the briquetting process. Hot drying gases are produced through separate combustion of a small proportion of the coal. The briquetting process is a purely mechanical procedure involving material distribution, compaction, cooling and storage. Very high compaction rates in the briquetter enable high production rates in an economically acceptable way.

To date, over 20,000 tonne of coal have been upgraded in testing programs. A 90,000 tonne per annum White Coal Technology development plant was built in Australia and the process proven to operate successfully. Coal samples from China, the USA, Australia, Indonesia and South Africa have all been successfully upgraded. A fully featured demonstration plant will be operational by the end of 2007. The White Coal Technology plant design has been assessed by independent engineers Sinclair Knight Merz who have advised that no ‘in principal’ issues with scaling up the technology exist. Notably, capital plant costs are considerably less than alternative processes.

The upgraded coal end product is the proof of the engineering approach to the technology at the last pre-commercial stage i.e.:

• that the agglomerating machines can operate at the rate at which all commercial predictions have been based;
• that the agglomerating machines can have an acceptable operating life, between maintenance shutdowns;
• that the unique dryer design can be reliably scaled-up from the pilot and development plants;
• to gather all the data required to keep technical and commercial risks to an acceptable level in the first commercial scale White Coal Technology plant.

The White Coal Technology has also been reviewed in a commercial context by a number of joint venture parties and the Commonwealth Government of Australia who have all demonstrated confidence in the process and its commercialization.

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