PURPOSE: To efficiently recover finely granulated coal at a low waste liquor disposal cost, by adding a binder to an aq. slurry of pulverized coal to granulate the coal and then treating the aq. slurry with a cyclone.

CONSTITUTION: A fine powders 3 obtd. by crushing coal feed 1 with a crusher 2 is sent to a mixing tank 4 and mixed with added water 5 and an added binder 6, and the mixture is treated in a granulator 7. The obtd. slurry is sent to a cyclone 9, from which an ash-contg. slurry is discharged and an aq. slurry 10 rich in finely granulated coal is sent to a dehydrator 12, in which the granulated coal (cake) 13 is recovered. When classification is not satisfactorily effected in the cyclone 9 so that the aq. slurry 10 contains some ash, the slurry is sent to a screen 14, through which the finely granulated coal 13 of a relatively large particle size is separated, and the residual slurry is sent to a conditioner 16. After addition of a floation agent 18 and water 17, the slurry is treated in a floatation tank 19 to discharge an aq. ash slurry 21 and to recover finely granulated coal 20.