Development of a gas-promoted oil agglomeration process. Quarterly technical progress report, January 1--March 31, 1996

The overall purpose of this research project is to carry out the preliminary laboratory-scale development of a gas-promoted, oil agglomeration process for cleaning coal using model mixing systems. Specific objectives include determining the nature of the gas promotion mechanism, the effects of hydrodynamic factors and key parameters on process performance, and a suitable basis for size scale-up of the mixing system. Further analysis of the results of a series of oil agglomeration tests reported previously showed that the time required to produce spherical agglomerates depends on both the power input per unit volume and the concentration of air in the coal suspension. A subsequent series of tests has shown that extending the time of agitation beyond the point where spherical agglomeration seems to occur produces larger agglomerates which are recovered more easily and the separation efficiency of the process is improved