Method for treating coal to obtain a refined carbonaceous material

Claim 2

A process for producing a refined carbonaceous material from initial coal which comprises: (1) treating said coal at a temperature of 60° to 150° C. with methylamine to produce a mixture comprising: (a) insoluble waste material (b) a solution of extracted coal and (c) undissolved residual coal (2) discarding said insoluble waste (a) and separating said solution of extracted coal from said undissolved coal; (3) subjecting said undissolved residual coal to a first treatment to remove a predominant amount of amine and then stripping said undissolved coal with a low molecular weight alcohol or naphtha vapor to remove remaining residual amine; (4) removing said amine from said extracted coal solution to produce a refined carbonaceous product.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 wherein said alcohol is of 1-4 carbons.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 wherein said alcohol is methanol.

Claim 5

The process of claim 1 wherein said initial coal is subjected to a drying and crushing treatment prior to being treated with amine whereby the moisture content is reduced to about 1 to 2% and the particle size is reduced to 20-100 mesh.

Claim 6

The process of claim 1 wherein said methylamine and alcohol or naphtha subsequent to use in steps 1-4 are recovered and recycled for further use in the process.

Claim 7

The process of claim 1 wherein prior to treatment with methylamine, said coal is pre-treated with a hot, concentrated solution of an alkali metal carbonate to form a solution of dissolved, extracted coal in said carbonate solution along with undissolved waste and undissolved coal residue; said undissolved coal residue thus being separated from said waste and solution of dissolved extract and passed to step 1 for treatment with said amine.

Claim 8

The process of claim 1 wherein said refined carbonaceous product consists essentially of moisture and ash-free coal.

Claim 9

The process of claim 1 wherein the initial coal which is treated is sub-bituminous or lignite coal.

Claim 10

A process for producing a refined carbonaceous material from coal which comprises: (1) treating said coal at a temperature of 60° to 150° C. with methylamine to produce a mixture comprising: (a) insoluble waste material and (b) a solution of dissolved extracted coal and (c) undissolved residual coal (2) discarding said insoluble waste (a) and separating said extract solution from said undissolved residual coal; (3) subjecting said undissolved coal to a first treatment to remove a predominant amount of said methylamine and then stripping said undissolved coal with methanol to remove residual methylamine; (4) treating said undissolved residual coal from (3) with additional hot methylamine, and then separating methylamine from said residual coal; (5) subjecting said undissolved residual coal from (4) with hot methanol vapor to strip away remaining methylamine and then separating said residual coal from the methanol-methylamine mixture; (6) removing methylamine from said dissolved extracted coal solution to produce a refined carbonaceous product.

Claim 11

A process for producing a refined carbonaceous material from coal which comprises: (1) treating said coal at a temperature of 60° to 150° C. with methylamine to produce a mixture comprising: (a) insoluble waste material and (b) a solution of dissolved extracted coal and (c) undissolved residual coal (2) discarding said insoluble waste (a) and separating said extract solution from said undissolved residual coal; (3) subjecting said undissolved coal to a first treatment to remove a predominant amount of said methylamine and then stripping said undissolved coal with methanol to remove residual methylamine; (4) treating said undissolved residual coal from (3) with additional hot methylamine, and then separating methylamine from said residual coal; (5) subjecting said undissolved residual coal from (4) with hot methanol vapor to strip away remaining methylamine and then separating said residual coal from the methanol-methylamine mixture; (6) removing methylamine from said dissolved extracted coal solution to produce a refined carbonaceous product.