Hazen Research, Inc.

Gtl Energy Holdings Pty Limited

Gtl Energy, Ltd.

The Michael and Kathleen Stevenson Family Limited Partnership

Stevenson, Michael J.

Robert A Reeves

Robert R French

Charlie W Kenney

Mark H Berggren

Michael J Stevenson

Charles B Benham

Patrick B Auell

Dennis M Johnson

Corey R Dibrom

A thermal indicia transfer comprises a fixing layer between a carrier sheet and a printed ink layer. The ink comprises plastic particles, a solvent, an indicia additive, a dispersing agent, and optionally a binder. The fixing layer is coated onto the carrier sheet and cured. The ink layer is printed onto the fixing layer where the plastic particles are held in place by the tackiness and structure of the fixing layer. The printed ink layer is dried at a temperature high enough to remove the solvent from the ink layer, but low enough to prevent melting of the plastic particles.

Ink, transfers, methods of making transfers, and methods of using transfers to decorate plastic articles

The invention provides a method by which high moisture low rank coal or other carbonaceous material may be transformed into a high-energy, water resistant product. The raw feed is comminuted then mechanically compacted by a roller press with rolls of a specified profile to mobilize the inherent moisture and collapse most of the interstitial pore space. The mobilized moisture is then removed by low-temperature drying and the material is sized and shaped to form a product that is resistant to re-absorption of water or other liquids. The present invention will promote the use of low rank coal for liquefaction and gasification.

Roll press

The present invention provides methods of transforming low rank coals into high quality metallurgical coke, and the coke products produced by such methods.

Method of manufacturing coke from low grade coal

Methods of producing water-resistant solid fuels

The invention provides low-cost, non-thermal methods to transform and beneficiate bulk materials, including low rank coals such as peat, lignite, brown coal, subbituminous coal, other carbonaceous solids or derived feedstock. High pressure compaction and comminution processes are linked to transform the solid materials by eliminating interstitial, capillary, pores, or other voids that are present in the materials and that may contain liquid, air or gases that are detrimental to the quality and performance of the bulk materials, thereby beneficiating the bulk products to provide premium feedstock for industrial or commercial uses, such as electric power generation, gasification, liquefaction, and carbon activation. The handling characteristics, dust mitigation aspects and combustion emissions of the products may also be improved.

Method to transform bulk material

The present invention discloses methods to reduce dusting in bulk materials, such as coal. The method includes mixing with the bulk material either a fraction of the bulk material having an electrostatic charge opposite that of the remainder of the bulk material or a heterologous charge control agent having an electrostatic charge opposite that of the bulk material. The attractive forces between the opposite electrostatic charges agglomerate dust particles to larger particles that quickly settle to control dusting. Also disclosed are materials produced by the methods described above.

Dry dust control materials

The ash content of raw coals, lignite, and other carbonaceous materials is reduced by leaching the high-ash material with an aqueous acidic waste product produced by a Fischer-Tropsch reaction. The acidic aqueous waste is mixed with coal and process conditions are described. The claim takes advantage of using otherwise uneconomic coal, lignite or other carbonaceous material by upgrading the material to a suitable feedstock for combustion in a power plant or gasifier.

Method to upgrade low rank coal stocks

Methods of controlling the bulk density, permeability, moisture retention and thermal properties of bulk materials are provided by selectively sizing the bulk material. Preferably, the bulk material is sized into successively smaller particle size fractions, with the largest fraction placed into a confined area. The next smaller size fraction is then added until the largest sized fraction begins to dilate. The next successive smaller size fraction is added until the mixture beams to dilate, with the process being continued until the smallest size fraction is used. Methods of decreasing the density of bulk materials are also provided.

Methods of controlling the density and thermal properties of bulk materials

The invention provides a method by which low-rank coal may be processed to provide a high-energy feedstock for coal gasification and synthesis gas production. Preliminary coal, preparation, which may include washing and drying, is followed by wax-impregnation to produce a high-energy, low-moisture, stable feedstock. The wax is preferably obtained from an on-site Fischer-Tropsch reactor that also produces diesel fuel and naptha.

Method of forming a feed for coal gasification

Methods of controlling the bulk density, permeability, moisture retention and thermal properties of bulk materials are provided by selectively sizing the bulk material. Preferably, the bulk material is sized into a bi-modal size distribution to control these properties. Methods of decreasing the density of bulk materials are also provided. In one embodiment the bulk material is separated into a first fraction and a second fraction, the second fraction being smaller than the first. Subsequently, the second fraction is separated into a third fraction and a fourth fraction, the fourth fraction being smaller than the third. The third fraction is then comminuted to be the same size as the fourth fraction, at which point the first, third, and fourth fractions are finally mixed to produce a densified bulk material. The claimed method takes advantage of the tendency of intermediately sized particles to push larger particles of a mixture apart, while smaller particles merely fill in the voids between the larger particles.

A method and composition are disclosed to reduce the oxidative deterioration of bulk materials. Preferred embodiments of bulk materials include solid fuel materials, such as coal, and bulk food products. The method includes sizing a bulk material so that it has a porosity of 40% or less. This relatively low porosity reduces the surface area of the bulk material available to the ambient environment for oxidation. The method of sizing the bulk material may be combined with the step of contacting the bulk material with an inert gas or a heat transfer medium.

Method to reduce oxidative deterioration of bulk materials

Disclosed is a method to reduce oxidative deterioration of bulk materials. Preferred embodiments of bulk materials include solid fuel materials, such as coal, and bulk food products. The method includes contacting a bulk material with a heat transfer medium to reduce the temperature of the bulk material below ambient temperature, and preferably below about 10.degree. C. In this manner, the rate of oxidation is sufficiently low so that significant losses, such as the loss of thermal values in of fuel material, are avoided. The heat transfer medium can be solid or fluid and in a preferred embodiment is liquid carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen.

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Arvada, CO, United States of America

Robert A Reeves