Arthur G. Mckee & Company

Davy Mckee Corporation

Charles A Czako

Franklin S Chalmers

Carl J Nelson

Melvin J Greaves

Andrejs Berzins

Process and apparatus are disclosed for recovering liquid and gaseous fuel from solid hydrocarbon-containing mineral material such as bitumen-containing mineral materials exemplified by tar sands or oil-bearing diatomites, without expensive pretreatment to separate the hydrocarbon containing material from material containing no hydrocarbon. The hydrocarbon-containing material is agglomerated into discrete pieces that are treated on a traveling grate such as a circular traveling grate and subjected to sequential treatments in which hot gases are passed upwardly or downwardly through a relatively deep permeable bed of the pieces on the grate, in several treating zones separated by transverse gas seals and sealed at the side edges by suitable gas seals. All, or essentially all, of the heat required is obtained in a coke burn-off zone from combustion of coke that remains in the material on the grate after the volatile hydrocarbons have been removed by distillation in an earlier distillation zone. Part of the gas from the distillation zone is continually recycled to pass through the hot material on the grate in a zone following the coke burn-off zone to transfer heat by the gas to the distillation zone and to cool the spent material on the grate before it leaves the grate. Water gas may be produced by passing steam through material containing residual coke, in a treating zone following and preferably near or adjacent the coke burn-off zone. Because of high temperatures in the coke burn-off zone the agglomerated pieces are sintered, and may be glazed, to provide spent pieces that are useful and of economic value.

Apparatus for treatment of hydrocarbon-containing mineral material

Treatment of hydrocarbon-containing mineral material

Disclosed is a method of cooling hot agglomerates containing metallic iron resulting from prereduction of iron oxide, by moving ambient atmospheric air rapidly over the agglomerates so that little if any reoxidation of the metallic iron results. Also disclosed is apparatus comprising a gas permeable support movable in a generally horizontal generally circular path and having a feeding station at which hot particulate material is deposited on the support in a bed of substantially uniform thickness in which the particles are at rest relative to each other, discharge means at another station angularly spaced along the path of travel of said support for lifting the particulate material from the support, means for passing cooling gas through the bed of material on the support as the support travels from the feeding to the discharge station, and means for receiving the discharged cooled material. The discharge means includes a magnetic means movable sufficiently closely to the support to lift off cooled magnetic particulate material and drop it onto a conveyor.

Method for cooling reduced metal agglomerates

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Seven Hills, OH, United States of America

Charles A Czako