Preliminary evaluation of resinite recovery from Illinois coal. Technical report, March 1--May 31, 1995

Resinite is a naturally occurring substance found in coal and derived from original plant resins. It has been commercially exploited in the western USA for use in adhesives, varnishes and thermal setting inks. The overall objective of this project is to compare the properties of the resinite contained in Illinois Basin coals to resinite being commercially exploited in the western US, and to recover the resinite from Illinois coals by microbubble column floatation techniques. The significance of this study is that it has the potential to show the way to recover a valuable chemical, resinite, from coal using only physical processing techniques. The value of the resinite at $1.00/kg or $0.50/lb makes it about fifty times more valuable than steam coal. The removal of resinite from coal does not decrease the value of the remaining coal in any way. During this quarter pure concentrates of resinite from Herrin No. 6 Seam were produced by the density gradient centrifugation technique. This material is also now being characterized by petrographic and chemical methods. Another accomplishment this quarter was the completion of a series of microbubble column flotation tests under eight different conditions. The tests were successful in producing concentrates that are now being evaluated. The significance of the work done during this quarter is the confirmation that the resinite in an Illinois coal can be successfully separated in quantities useful for testing and analysis