AU732853B3

AU732853B3 - Method of using coal washery refuse for making ceramic articles

Info

Publication number: AU732853B3
Application number: AU59505/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Fady Sidrak
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-09-21
Filing date: 2000-09-21
Publication date: 2001-05-03
Anticipated expiration: 2002-05-03

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patent Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT METHOD OF USING COAL WASHERY REFUSE FOR MAKING CERAMIC

ARTICLES

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: Date of Application, 6 July, 2000 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION I Fady Sidrak of 19/34 Heaslip Street, Coniston 2500, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement: METHOD OF USING COAL WASHERY REFUSE FOR MAKING CERAMIC

ARTICLES

ABSTRACT

A method of utilizing coal washery refuse for making bricks or other ceramic articles.

Coal washery refuse is mixed with equal quantity of clay. The mixture may then be stored, and is extruded by conventional means. After extrusion and cutting or shaping, the articles are dried in a dryer and fired in a kiln. The products so produced are substantially indistinguishable from conventional products, except that their insulating properties are enhanced.

METHOD OF USING COAL WASHERY REFUSE FOR MAKING CERAMIC

ARTICLES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a method of disposing of coal washery in an environmentally sound manner. In the past the disposal of such material has been a major problem confronting municipalities and plant operators. Disposal techniques -have included landfilling or merely dumping the material into waterways. Asopposed to most of the prior art techniques, according to the teachings of the present invention, the coal washery is treated as a resource rather than as a disposal problem, and a valuable end product is produced thereby.

In the making of ceramic articles, and especially in the making of insulating bricks, the use of coal washery refuse with clay to form the material from which the ceramic articles are to be made does not affect the desirable physical properties of the final article produced. When mixed with clay, it assists during firing in the kiln. In addition, burning of coal washery refuse may be the primary method of firing the kiln.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The method according to the teachings of the present invention allows handling of coal washery refuse without human contact to form ceramic articles, and requires only minor adaptation of the normal methods and apparatus for producing the ceramic articles.

Such coal washery refuse are mixed with clay in conventional mixing equipment (such as double shaft mixers). The components are fed to the mixer automatically by conventional conveyances. Preferably, the moisture content of the coal washery should not be greater than 50% so that a large quantity of coal washery refuse can be added to "'1&the clay without producing a mixture that is too soft for extrusion. Also, although any- F. SiakMeth f cf ing ceramic articles March 3, 2 2 AM 2 type of clay normally used for producing ceramics is suitable, it is preferred that the clay be low in moisture content. The amount of clay and coal washery refuse that will be mixed together is dependent upon the relative properties of the clay, coal washery refuse. They may be mixed together in any proportions as along as the mixture produced thereby is extrudable with conventional extruding means to form an extrusion that has sufficient form and dimensional stability to be fired and acted upon further to produce the desired finished article. Coal washery refuse normally contains a large number of alkali minerals, which when mixed with clay having a low content of such minerals produces a mixture that will produce products with especially good ceramic characteristics.

After mixing, the mixture formed thereby is preferably stored in a silo from which it may be fed to the extruding equipment. Storing before extrusion helps stabilize the mixture to insure even feed and a trouble free extrusion process. The extrusion too may be performed by any conventional extruding means. After extrusion, the material may be cut or formed by the usual conventional techniques into any desired shape for subsequent drying or firing to produce an article of the required dimensions and shape.

Again, the cutting is performed with any suitable conventional equipment.

Once the material is in its desired form, it is dried in a conventional dryer and fired in a conventional tunnel kiln. In the kiln, the coal washery refuse portion incorporated into the bricks being fired will be oxidized, resulting in dead air spaces which improve the insulating properties of the bricks, and the mineral compounds of the coal washery refuse are transformed into compounds with the basic ceramic materials that are harmless. This is accomplished by the large masses of material being subjected to the high temperatures and long firing times normally associated with brick and ceramic manufacture. It will thus be seen that coal washery refuse can readily be utilized in brick or ceramic manufacture without modifying the normal automatic equipment used in brick manufacture except to add a conventional conveyance means for automatically transporting the coal washery refuse to the mixer, and preferably a suitable ducting means for venting the exhaust gases from the kiln to the dryer if they are not already so vented.

At the mixing step, coal washery refuse added. The quantity of coal washery refuse that is added depends upon the type and grain size distribution of the clay, and again it is only necessary that the mixture produced be readily extrudable by conventional means to produce an extrusion that has sufficient form and dimensional stability to be fired and acted upon further to produce a given desired finished article. The coal washery refuse provides supplementary fuel for firing in the kiln. The coal washery refuse contained within the extruded product will be burned when the product is fired in the kiln. Many additives in the coal washery, which are the major source of pollution and cause the most difficulties during other methods of coal washery refuse utilization, are merely transformed into compounds incorporated within the ceramic or brick product. It is noted that it is also possibleto provide most of the energy for firing the kiln by burning coal washery refuse incorporating in the mix. This permits an even larger scale utilization of a normally environmentally undesirable materials.

It should be stressed that the end products produced by the method according to the teachings of the present invention are in no way inferior to similar products produced without the addition of coal washery refuse to the clay. In shape, color, odor, feel,

Claims

1. A method for producing brick or other ceramic products from coal washery refuse having environmentally harmful and/or toxic substances therein, said method comprising the steps of automatically: mixing equal quantity of coal washery refuse with clay in a mixer, extruding and forming articles from the mixture so formed, drying said articles in a dryer, firing said articles in a kiln, whereby ceramic products free from odors or harmful materials normally associated with coal washery refuse and having substantially the same physical properties as normal ceramic products are produced from said articles. Dated this 6 July, 2000 Fady Sidrak 19/34 Heaslip Street, Coniston 2500