BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION There are large quantities of good quality coal fines which are available but generally not commercially usable in that form. For the coal to be useful in industrial smelting applications it needs to be agglomerated into briquettes or similarly sized products. This needs to be achieved in a manner which will enable the agglomerated product to withstand normal handling to reach its location for combustion with substantial disintegration back into fines. The agglomeration must also be effected in a manner which will not materially interfere with the normal burning of coal which must retain its agglomerated integrity sufficiently for the coal to fulfill its purpose.

Coal fines have in the past been agglomerated using binders such as starch or molasses in high dosage rates with consequent expense. Molasses also forms a contaminant in the combustion environment which is highly undesirable. In the result these binders are not really adequate for their purposes.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is the object of this invention to provide a material which will enable the coal fines of the kind referred to to be utilised as agglomerated masses.

In this specification all constituent percentages are percentages by mass.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention there is provided a material for agglomerating coal fines for use at temperatures above 1200° C which material comprises a mixture of methyl cellulose, vinyl resin and silicate in the proportion:- cellulose 0.1% to 5.0% resin 0.1% to 5.0% soluble silica 0.1 % to 10.0% of agglomerated product.

The invention further provides for the proportions to be cellulose 1.0% resin 0.3% silica 0.3% The invention also provides an agglomerated product of good quality coal fines in a mixture in the range of 6.0 mm to 0.05 mm mixed with a material as defined above.

Still further features of this invention provide for there to be an approximately even mixture of size of coal particles in the coal fines and for the agglomerating material to be included in a quantity of between 0.3% and 20% of agglomerated material.

These and other features of this invention will become apparent from the following description of one embodiment thereof.

Good quality coal fines is obtainable from mines producing this kind of coal.

These fines contain particles of sizes ranging from 0.05 mm to 6 mm with a particle distribution of 0.05 mm 20% 0.5 mm to 1 mm 20% 1 mm to 6 mm 60% ash content 6.0% to 32% volatile content 3.0% to 37% With the correct distribution of particles and a wide variation of volatile matter and an ash content up to about 32% it will be possible to achieve up to 10 MPa comprising strength with an agglomerating material content of 1% to 1.5%.

If the volatile matter is lower than about 20% it is possible to reduce the binder content to 1% and lower.

The silica content should preferably remain at about 10% to 100% of the resin content. The former quantity is most suitable where operating temperatures are reached slowly.

The mixing procedure is the coal is added to the mixer then the cellulose is added and stirred well. The silica and resin compounds are then added slowly.

Mixing is continued until a homogeneous mass has been achieved.

This mixture is then formed into lumpy masses by either a modified brick making machine or similar device using low pressures.

By using a mixture of methyl cellulose, vinyl resin and silicate in a mixture of low moisture coal fines the product can be lightly compressed to a cake which on drying will give a lumpy product very suitable for use in appropriate smelting processes. The coal fines should be a mixture of 0.05 mm to 5.0 mm and there should be a good balance of fine and course particles.

The mixing process is a standard concrete type mixer, similar to the Eirich type mixer.

The whole mixture must contain a small percentage of water to allow the product to coat the surfaces of the particles.

The preferred mixture is Methyl cellulose 1% Resin (Vinyl) 0.3% Silica (soluble) 0.3% Water 3.0% Coal fines (3% surface moisture) 95.4%.

The coal mixed with the agglomerating material can be handled with conventional equipment in smelting plants as the compressive strength referred to above can be achieved.

The agglomerated and compressed material can sustain smelting temperatures of up to 1600°C without disintegration.

It will be appreciated that the specific example given above can be varied particularly with regard to the kind of coal used.

The proportions of the constituents of the agglomerated material may of course vary dependant on the particular circumstances in which the material is to be used but the determination of the most satisfactory proportions can readily be determined by experiment by a suitably skilled person in the art.

The invention provides a satisfactory agglomerated coal product particularly suitable for use in the smelting industry from a basically waste material.