DEVELOPING SLURRY FUEL FROM ANTHRACITE

OTISCA INDUSTRIES HAS BEEN ENGAGED IN THE PREPARATION, DELIVERY AND COMBUSTION OF OVER 70 TONS (DRY) OF BOILER AND ENGINE GRADE COAL/WATERSLURRY FUELS FOR OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS. THE AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF THOSE FUELS AS PREPARED FROM BITUMINOUS COAL IS 0.8 WT.% ASH, 0.8 WT.% SULFUT, 50 WT% SOLID, 100 CENTIPOISE VISCOSITY (100 SEC-1) AND AN AVERAGE PARTICLE SIZE OF 4 MICROMETERS. OTISCA HAS ALSO PERFORMED RESEARCH ON OVER 100 SEAMS OF COAL AND ANTHRACITE. WITH THOSE TOOLS IN HAND OTISCA IS CONVINCED THAT AN ANTHRACITE/WATER SLURRY CAN BE DEVELOPED WHICH WILL HAVE ECELLENT STORAGE AND RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING STABLE COMBUSTION IN A SMALL INDUSTRIAL BOILER SUCH AS THE EXISTING 75 HORSEPOWER FIRE-TUBE BOILER THAT WILL BE USED IN THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM CONSISTS OF FIVE TASKS WHICH INCLUDE THE PREPARATION OF TWO SLURRIES: ONE WITH A PARTICLE DIAMETER IN THE RANGE OF 150UMXO AND THE OTHER 20UMXO; AND AN IN DEPTH DEVELOPMENT OF THE RHEOLOGY OF THOSE ANTHRACITE/WATER SLURRIES CONSISTENT WITH OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPECIFICATIONS WHICH ARE NECESSARY FOR STORAGE AND ATOMIZATION. WITH THE SPECIFICATIONS IN HAND, AN IN-HOUSE PILOT PLANT WILL PRODUCE ABOUT 1000 LBS (DRY) OF EACH ANTHRACITE/WATER SLURRY FOR COMBUSTION TESTING IN THE EXISTING FIRE-TUBE BOILER TO ESTABLISH THE COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY OF THAT FUEL. ALL DATA WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE FINAL REPORT WHICH WILL ALSO INCLUDE AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND CONVERSION COSTS.