Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695

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Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel

Preparation and rheology of biochar, lignite char and coal slurry fuels
R. Chen, M. Wilson, Y.K. Leong , P. Bryant, H. Yang, D.K. Zhang
Centre for Energy (M473), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Australia
School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering (M050), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Slurries of an Oil Mallee biomass char, a low rank coal char and sub-bituminous coals were prepared by
Received 16 August 2010 mixing the nely milled solids with water and a range of additives including polyacrylic acid, charged
Received in revised form 19 October 2010 copolymers D101 and D102, and sucrose. The resultant slurries were subjected to rheological character-
Accepted 20 October 2010
izations including apparent viscosity and yield stress. The effect of the solid type, particle size distribu-
Available online 2 November 2010
tion, and the additives on preparation of highly loaded slurries with the desired rheological behaviour
were systematically examined in terms of apparent viscosity and yield stress. The additives D101 and
Keywords:
D102 were found to be most effective in producing highly loaded suspensions with a low apparent vis-
Slurry fuel
Char
cosity and yield stress. Particle size distributions were manipulated to improve the solid loading. Suspen-
Coal sions produced by powder mixture containing equal weight precent of 30 min and 1 min milled powders
Rheology gave a broad size distribution and is very effective in increasing the solid loading in slurries. The signif-
Absorbed additives icant improvement in the solid loading was shown to be achieved by (i) increasing particle packing den-
sity via size distribution control and (ii) minimising the strength and number of the interactions between
colloidal particles. The maximum solid loading of owable (or relatively low apparent viscosity) slurries
achieved with the Oil Mallee char is 40 wt.%, with the sub-bituminous coals 5663 wt.%, and with the
lignite char 65 wt.%. This study has shown that for low rank coals such as lignite, thermal and densi-
cation treatment is essential to achieve the solid loading of slurry fuel.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Identication and production of alternative hydrocarbon-based
fuels are becoming increasingly important, with people relying on
them for everything from power generation, through transport, to
cooking. As such, people are constantly looking out for new fuels or
improvements to the fuels they already use. This is particularly
important to remote communities where fuel supply options are
limited, yet power is necessary. It is within this realm that this pro-
ject rests. Petroleum-derived diesel fuel is presently the main
power source for remote Australian communities, supplying the
majority of off grid towns and stations. Currently, wind and solar
power are the primary alternatives in terms of energy production
[1], whilst bio-diesels are the best diesel alternative [2]. The high
oil price has generated renewed interest in the development of
alternative fuels to diesel based on biochar and coal. The main
use of biochar is not as fuel but in agriculture as ingredient to in-
crease the xed soil carbon content.
The activity on the development of coal slurry fuels has been on
and off for over 100 years. Coalwater slurries have been used as a
fuel from as far back as 1879 with relative success [3]. A coalslur-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 8 6488 3602; fax: +61 8 6488 1024.
E-mail address: leong@mech.uwa.edu.au (Y.K. Leong).
ry production plant was even built in Australia for the purpose of
selling coal slurries to Japan [4]. Forays into the use of charcoal
water slurries have been limited, and the few examples present
in the literature deal with charcoaloil water slurries [5]. This fact
provides a perfect reason to undertake this project, as it breaks
new ground in an area with huge implications for future
generations.
Charcoal is abundant in Australia due to res caused by the
countrys dry climate and burning practices [6]. Many different
types of charcoal exist, and only some of these have the necessary
properties to form useful slurries. This particular project investi-
gated two types of char: a low rank coal char denoted as lignite
char, and a char made from Oil Mallee biomass, denoted as Oil Mal-
lee char and several sub-bituminous coals, collected from the Collie
coal deposits in Western Australia.
The primary aim of this project is to produce a homogeneous
fuel slurry of char/coalwater with sufciently high solid concen-
tration and low apparent viscosity using selected additives as wet-
ting agents and dispersants. The desired set of properties of a slurry
fuel is to have (i) a solid concentration of 6570 wt.%, (ii) a viscos-
ity in the order of 1.0 Pa.s and (iii) a desired size distribution where
no more than 20% of the particles being greater than 74 lm [3]. In
addition, these concentrated fuel slurries should not settled to
form a hard cake. A stable slurry in engineering term is one that

0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2010.10.041
1690 R. Chen et al. / Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695
does not settled out quickly making its processing such as in mix-
ing, pumping, transportation and atomisation, a difcult issue [7].
Factors affecting slurry stability are particle concentration, density,
size, zeta potential or surface charge, coal morphology and dispers-
ing medium [7]. The ow behaviour should also be an important
factor in addition to viscosity as the slurry will have to be trans-
ported to and atomised in the combustion chamber. Dooher et al.
[8] characterized the rheological behaviour of fteen highly loaded
proprietary coalwater fuels from seven producers with solid con-
centration ranging from 65.9% to 71.6%. The slurry fuels contained
proprietary additives for wetting and dispersion. A range of rheo-
logical behaviour was observed, ranging from Newtonian and
shear thinning to dilatant uids with a yield stress. It appeared that
the preparation process and additives types, rather than the coal
type, are the rheological determining factors.
2. Materials and methods
The study involves two types of chars, an Oil Mallee biomass
char and a lignite char, and several sub-bituminous coals. The Oil
Mallee char is derived from native Australian Mallee eucalyptus
plants. The various species of these Mallee plants can grow in rel-
atively dry areas and in high salt environment that has inundated
many important farming areas in Australia. These plants are ideal
candidates to be planted extensively in the affected farming areas
where it can be used to absorb and store carbon as a carbon sink.
Additionally, these trees crops can be harvested every 45 years
to produce a range of commercial products such as eucalyptus
oil, activated carbon, ethanol and wood composites in addition to
being a biomass fuel product. The coals were collected from differ-
ent locations in the Collie sub-bituminous coal deposit in Western
Australia. They are of the same rank but differ in ash content. These
coal samples are denoted as East coal, East Standard coal and Nut
coal in this paper. The ultimate and proximate analysis of these
char and coal samples are summarized in Table 1. The char samples
have signicantly higher carbon content and a relatively low
hydrogen, oxygen and volatile matter content. The three Collie coal
samples are clearly sub-bituminous coals based on the ultimate
analysis results, as all of them contain high volatile contents with
relatively low ash contents (<7.2 wt.%). The two undesirable com-
ponents, sulphur and ash, are generally low for all samples studied,
with the exception of relatively high sulphur content in the Nut
coal and signicantly high ash content in the Oil Mallee char.
The overall process in preparing the char/coalwater slurries in
this project was as follows:
 Milling of char or coal to achieve desired particle size and distri-
butions, as characterized by the milling time,
 preparation of surfactant solutions, and
 mixing of the milled char or coal with surfactant solutions to
desired concentrations.
The milling of the char and coal samples was carried out using a
high-energy SPEX8000 mixer/mill at ambient temperatures. In a
typical milling, a powder charge of 10 g and 10 harden steel balls
Table 1
Ultimate and proximate analysis (on a dry basis) of char and coal samples, in wt.%.
Sample C H N S (total)
Oil Mallee char 80.1 0.21 0.30
Lignite char 92.0 0.38 0.67
East coal 69.2 4.03 1.32
East standard coal 71.4 4.10 1.33
Nut coal 68.2 4.07 1.22
of 12.7 mm in diameter were loaded and sealed in a hardened steel
vial, giving to a ball-to-powder ratio of 8:1. The char samples were
milled from 1 to 60 min, resulting in samples of varied average par-
ticle size (d50) and particle size distribution.
Once the char/coal had been milled, the next step was to formu-
late slurry with a specic solid concentration. The majority of coal
water slurries contain in excess of 60 wt.% of solids and 1 wt.% of
surfactant [3]. In order to achieve such a high solid concentration
in the char/coalwater slurries while maintaining the required
uid viscosity, several wetting agents were employed and tested.
The wetting agent works to reduce the surface tension of the
water, thus allows the char or coal particles to interact with H2O
molecules to form the slurry. The wetting agents tested in this pro-
ject included polyacrylic acid (PAA), negatively charged carboxyl-
ate copolymers of D-101 and D-102, and sucrose. The copolymers
will adsorb on the char and coal particles imparting a high negative
charge density at alkaline pH.
To prepare the slurry, an appropriate amount of a surfactant was
rstly dissolved into a given mass of water to form a surfactant
solution of typically 4 wt.%. Slurry samples ranging in char/coal
loadings from 30 to 60 wt.% were then prepared using these surfac-
tant solutions, with the amount of surfactant roughly equalling to
1 wt.% of the solid mass. Once the constituents were added, the
slurry was mixed either by hand or, for particularly viscous sam-
ples, through the use of a digital sonicator. When thoroughly mixed,
the slurry sample was then ready for rheological characterisation.
In this project, a Malvern Mastersizer was employed to measure
the particle size distribution of the prepared char slurries. The yield
stress of the slurries was measured with a range of Brookeld DV
II + Pro vane viscometers. The yield stress is the minimum stress
that needs to be exceeded before ow can occur. A 4-blade vane
is placed into a small amount of slurry and rotated at a very slow
constant speed of 0.4 rpm. The maximum torque recorded was
then used in the yield stress calculation. The Brookeld viscome-
ters used have spring constants of 0.0000673, 0.0007187 and
0.00575 Nm at 100% deection. The vanes used have a height to
diameter, H/D, ratio of 2 with dimensions of H = 2 cm and
D = 1 cm, and H = 1 cm and D = 0.5 cm. A Haake VT550 cone-and-
plate viscometer was also used to measure the slurry viscosity at
xed shear rates. In general, a slurry will have a low apparent vis-
cosity at a xed shear rate if its yield stress is low. The zeta poten-
tial was measured with colloidal dynamics ZetaProbe.
3. Results and discussion
The raw Oil Mallee char is a aky and light material which has a
signicantly high ash content of 15.6 wt.%, a value 24 times high-
er than all other char and coal samples studied. For slurry prepara-
tions, the Oil Mallee char was milled for 60 min to produce micron-
sized powders with a wide range of size distribution, as seen in a
typical SEM micrograph inserted in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 summarises the results of yield stresssolid concentration
measurements for aqueous Oil Mallee char slurries prepared with-
out and with additives; 1.0 dwb% (gram of additive per 100 g of
char) D102 and 1.0 dwb% sucrose. It was found that relatively
O (calculated) Ash Volatile matter
0.22 3.6 15.6 4.1
0.21 2.8 3.9 3.0
0.30 17.9 7.2 35.3
0.33 18.1 4.8 37.5
1.88 18.2 6.5 37.5
 R. Chen et al. / Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695 1691

1200
Mallee Char

1000
yield stress (Pa)

800

600

400 no additive

1 dwb% sucrose
200
1.0 dwb% D102

0
15 20 25 30 35 40 45
solids concentration (wt%)

Fig. 1. The yield stresssolid concentration relationship of aqueous Oil Mallee char
slurries without additives and with 1.0 dwb% of D102 and 1.0 dwb% sucrose. The
inset is a SEM micrograph of milled Oil Mallee char particles.

homogeneous Oil Mallee charwater slurry could be formed with-

out any additive, an indication that the char particles were rela-
tively hydrophilic. However the polar functional group content as
indicated by the oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen content of this char
is very low, thus the observed hydrophilic behaviour is attributed
to its high minerals content of more than 15 wt.%, as shown in
the Table 1. The slurry developed high viscosities at a low solid
loading of 35 wt.%. Although the addition of additives such as
D102 and sucrose has resulted in an improved yield stress behav-
iour, the exponential increase in the yield stress was still observed
to commence at solid loading below 40 wt.%. The low solid load-
ings achieved with Oil Mallee char suggest that further research ef-
fort is required modify the char surface characteristics in order to
Fig. 2. The yield stresssolid concentration relationship of lignite char slurries
formulate a char slurry fuel. The lignite char was typically ball
showing the effect of different additives at (a) 1.0 dwb% and (b) 0.5 dwb% additive
milled for 30 min prior to the preparation of slurries, unless other- concentrations.
wise specied. The aqueous lignite char slurries were prepared by
sonicating the appropriate amounts of lignite char solutions con-
taining the specic additives. The effect of additives on the yield 1000
stresssolid concentration behaviour of the lignite char slurries Lignite char slurries wt% solids

are shown in Fig. 2. It is clearly seen that the most effective addi- 55.6
apparent viscosity (mPa.s)

tives in loading the solid char in slurries were D101 and D102.
54.3
With 1.0 dwb% of D101, a 60 wt.% solid concentration with a rela- 100
tively low yield stress was achieved for the ignite charwater slur- 50

ry. The PAA additive was clearly less effective in this case, where
the exponential increase of yield stress was observed at a solid
concentration of 55 wt.%. The slurry with 1.0 dwb% PAA dis- 10
played a zeta potential of approximately 64 mV at pH 8.8. This 45
zeta potential value normally indicates a strong repulsive interac-
tion between the char particles. Decreasing additive concentration 1 dwb% Copolymer D102
1
from 1.0 to 0.5 dwb% reduced the effectiveness of D101 and D102
drastically, and made PAA slightly more effective at this concentra-
tion. However, the exponential increase in yield stress was ob- 10 100 1000 10000
served for all slurries at a solid concentration of 55 wt.%.
shear rate (s-1)
The (apparent) viscosityshear rate behaviour of the lignite char
slurries at different solid concentration and with 1.0 dwb% D102 is Fig. 3. The apparent viscosityshear rate behaviour of lignite char slurries with
shown in Fig. 3. When the ow behaviour of the slurry is non-New- different solid concentrations and 1.0 dwb% D102. The zeta potential is 70 mV at
tonian, the referred viscosity will be the apparent viscosity. Despite pH 9.5.

the high yield stress observed at the highest concentration of

55.6 wt.% solid, the ow behaviour of the slurry is essentially New-
tonian. Normally slurry with a high yield stress will display highly
shear thinning ow behaviour where the apparent viscosity will
decrease sharply with increasing shear rates. The Newtonian
behaviour observed is an indication that the particleparticle inter-
action is repulsive in lignite char slurries. This is consistent with
the high zeta potential of approximately 70 mV at pH 9.5 mea-
sured for the ignitechar slurry, an indication of a very strong
double layer repulsive force [9]. At high particle loading, the repul-
sive interactions impart on the slurry a yield stress behaviour. The
particles are unable to move in a crowded space and hence the
repulsive interactions will keep the particles at equilibrium posi-
tions where the net force is zero. Above 55.6 wt.% solids, the slurry
may even display dilatant ow behaviour. It was qualitatively ob-
served that the slurry thickened in consistency as the rate of agita-
tion was increased.
1692
Dilatant behaviour of coal slurry fuel has also been reported by
others [8,10]. However, the mechanism for such behaviour was not
explained. The increase in viscosity with shear rate for the low con-
centration slurry of 45 wt.% solids is probably due to particle sed-
imentation occurring during the rheological characterization. This
unstable slurry is expected to be Newtonian in behaviour. The
more highly loaded slurries did not display instability behaviour
such as sedimentation. Some pumpable aqueous coal char slurries
were reported to have a relatively low concentration of less than
50 wt.% solids [11].
This study revealed that milling time has a signicant effect on
the particle size distribution of the char or coal slurry. Take lignite
char as an example, the median diameter, d50, was found to de-
crease with increasing milling time, from 11.3 lm after 5 min of
milling decreased to 4.7 lm after 15 min and to 3.2 lm after
30 min. Moreover, the study has shown that appropriate manipu-
lation of the particle size distribution can increase the solid con-
centration of slurries while maintaining a relatively low viscosity
[12]. Fig. 4(a and b) show the particle size and frequency distribu-
tions of the three lignite char slurries prepared using the 30 min-
milled ignite char powder (30 m) as the control, and using a mix-
ture of 50 wt.% of 30 min-milled powder with 50 wt.% 1 min-
milled (30 + 1 m) and 2 min-milled powders (30 + 2 m), respec-
tively. Compared to the control slurry which has a relatively smal-
ler median diameter and narrower size distribution, the mixed
powders, as expected, yielded a larger median particle diameter
(a) 100
80 Lignite Char slurries
% passing
60
40
20
0 increase at concentration beyond 51 wt.% solids. The measured
0.1 1 10
particle size d (m)
10
(b)
Lignite char slurries
8
Frequency, vol %
30m
6
30m+2m
30m+1m
4
0
0.01 0.1 1 10
particle size d (m)
Fig. 4. (a) The particle size distributions of lignite char slurries made of 30 min
milled powder (30 m), mixture of 1:1 weight ratio of 30 min and 2 min milled
powders (30 + 2 m), and mixture of 1:1 weight ratio of 30 min and 1 min milled
powders (30 + 1 m). (b) The corresponding frequency distributions.
R. Chen et al. / Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695
and a broader size distribution. The frequency distribution in Fig
4 (b) showed the presence of two modes for the 30 + 2 m slurry
occurring at 8.4 and 60.6 lm. However, all three slurries meet
the particle size distribution requirement of 7580% of the parti-
cles must be less than 75 lm for slurry fuels readily [3].
Fig. 5 shows the yield stresssolid concentration relation of lig-
nite char slurries of different size distributions. The yield stress
started to increase rapidly when solid concentration reached
56 wt.% for 30 min-milled powder. With mixed powders of
30 min and 2 min (30 + 2 m), and 30 min and 1 min (30 + 1 m),
much higher solid concentration limits were achieved at 64 and
65 wt.%, respectively.
Several Collie coals were also ball-milled for 30 min before pre-
paring the aqueous coal slurries. The effect of 1 dwb% D102 on the
yield stresses of various aqueous Collie coal slurries was also eval-
uated. The yield stressconcentration results are shown in Fig. 6.
Included in the results are the effects of drying temperature of
the as-received wet East coal. With the Nut coal slurry, the solid
concentration at the onset of exponential increase in the yield
stress was located at 55 wt.%, a relatively low value despite its high
solids density of 1.47 g/ml. With the East Standard sub-bituminous
coal (1.33 g/ml), this concentration was located at 54 wt.%. A high-
er additive concentration may be needed to improve the solid con-
centration of owable slurries. However for the East coal the solid
loading attained was much higher, in excess of 60 wt.% despite a
lower particle density of 1.28 g/ml. A higher drying temperature
appeared to improve the solid loading slightly. Collie coals are
known to have a low ash contents. The solid concentration at
which the yield stress displayed an exponential increase was not
very high when compared to that achieved with other coal slurries
where solid concentration up to 69 wt.% was reported in the liter-
ature [13]. However the reported coals have extremely high ash
contents of between 10 to 25 wt.%. As the density of the ash is high,
it contributes to the high solid concentration observed without sig-
nicantly increasing the packing density of the particles.
Even though, the density of Nut coal is similar to that of lignite
char and is much higher than those of East and East Standard sub-
bituminous coals, it did not form owable slurries with solid con-
centration in excess of 60 wt.% even with increased concentrations
30 m
of D102 additive. Fig. 7 shows plots of yield stress versus solid con-
30m+2m centration of the Nut coal slurries with different D102 concentra-
30m + 1m tions. At 1.0 dwb% of D102, the yield stress displayed a steep
100
yield stress was as high as 1500 Pa at 57 wt.% solids This data is
not shown in the gure. With increased concentrations of D102
100 1000
Fig. 5. The yield stresssolid concentration behaviour of lignite char slurries of
different particle size distributions, as indicated by the different milling times, with
1.0 dwb% D102.
 R. Chen et al. / Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695 1693

Nut Coal

apparent viscosity (mPa.s)

1dwb% D102
1000

solids (wt%)

51.5

49.5

47.5

100
10 100 1000
shear rate (s-1)
Fig. 6. The yield stresssolid concentration relationship of a range of aqueous Collie
coal slurries with 1.0 dwb% D102. The effect of drying temperature on the yield Fig. 8. The apparent viscosityshear rate behaviour of aqueous Nut coal slurries
stress of East sub-bituminous coal slurries was also included. with different solid loadings. The zeta potential of the slurry is 32.3 mV at pH of
5.24.

100
(a)

80
% passing

60
30 m
Nut Coal (Collie)
30m+2m

40 30m + 1m

20

0
0.1 1 10 100
Fig. 7. The yield stresssolid concentration behaviour of aqueous Nut coal slurries particle size d (m)
showing the effect of D102 additive concentration ranging from 1.0 to 4.0 dwb%.

(b) 10
Nut Coal
from 2.0 to 4.0 dwb%, the solid loading did improve noticeably;
however it is still signicantly less than 60 wt.%. The Nut coal par- 8
ticles in water with 1 dwb% D102 additive displayed a lower neg-
frequency, vol%

ative zeta potential of 32.3 mV at the natural slurry pH of 5.3. The

zeta potential of the coal particles is a function of the amount of 6
D102 adsorbed and the slurry pH. The repulsive force between
the coal particles was therefore weaker. The yield stress behaviour 30 m
4
is most likely due to attractive forces such as the van der Waals 30m+2m
force dominating the interparticle interactions.
30m + 1m
The viscosityshear rate behaviour of the aqueous the Nut coal 2
slurries was also studied and the results are shown in Fig. 8. The
slurry displayed a shear thinning behaviour where the viscosity de-
creases with increasing shear rates. The viscosity approached a 0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
constant value at high shear rates and should approach an innite
particle size d (m)
value at the zero shear rate. This shear thinning behaviour is typi-
cal of occulated slurries. Coalwater slurry fuels displaying shear Fig. 9. (a) The particle size distributions of Nut coal slurries made of 30 min milled
thinning behaviour with a constant viscosity region at high shear powder (30 m), mixture of 1:1 weight ratio of 30 min and 2 min milled powders
rates was also observed by Turian et al. [14]. (30 + 2 m), and mixture of 1:1 weight ratio of 30 min and 1 min milled powders
In addition to additive concentration, the effect of particle size (30 + 1 m). (b) The corresponding frequency distributions.
distribution was also evaluated for the Nut coal slurries. The size
and frequency distributions of the Nut coal slurries are shown in
Figs. 9(a and b). The size distribution was varied by mixing two prepared from the mixtures displayed a much broader size distri-
coal powders milled for different times in equal amount. One bution compared to that of pure 30 min milled powder (30 m).
was prepared by mixing equal weights of the 30 min milled pow- The powder mixture of 30 + 1 m displayed a bimodal distribu-
der with 1 min milled powder (3 + 1 m), and the other is the mix- tion feature which is shown very distinctly in Fig. 9(b). The two
ture of 30 min and 2 min milled powders (30 + 2 m). The slurry modes are located at 6.2 lm and 112 lm. The powder mixtures
1694 R. Chen et al. / Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695
displayed a much larger median particle size or d50. The d50 is
7 lm for both the 30 + 2 m and 30 + 1 m slurries compared to
3 lm for the 30 m slurry. The 30 + 1 m powder mixture yielded
a much higher concentration of coarse particles greater than
10 lm.
The corresponding yield stress versus concentration behaviour
of the different slurries is shown in Fig. 10. The solid loading is
again signicantly improved with slurries produced from powder
mixtures that have a broad size distribution. The exponential in-
crease in yield stress occurred at a much higher solids concentra-
tion. For the 30 min ground powder, the slurry displayed this
rapid yield stress increase at 52 wt.% solids, whilst that produced
from 30 min and 1 min powder mixture displayed such an increase
at a much higher solid loading of 58 wt.% solids. The solid concen-
tration achieved is still signicantly less than the desirable
70 wt.% solids. The slurry produced with the powder mixture of
30 + 2 m displayed a similar yield stresssolid concentration
behaviour to that of 30 + 1 m.
This study has revealed the importance of particle size distribu-
tion, the nature of surface modifying chemical additives and the
nature of the char particles in determining the viscosity, yield
stress and solid loading of the prepared char slurries. The additives
modify char surface properties and govern the nature and strength
of the interparticle forces. These forces together with the particle
packing density will govern the maximum solid loading that can
be achieved. The achievable maximum packing density is located
at the point where the relative viscosity of the slurry approaches
innity. This point can be observed from the plot of relative viscos-
ity versus solid volume fraction plot [7,15]. In the absence of colloi-
dal interactions, this maximum packing density is lowest for
monodisperse sphere and increases with increasing modal of the
size distribution. In real slurry, the particles usually have a size dis-
tribution which can be quite broad with a single mode in the dis-
tribution. The maximum volume fraction, umax, for random closely
packed solids is 0.64. At this volume fraction of particles, the vis-
cosity and yield stress should approach innity. This value will set
the limit of solid loading of the char and coal slurries provided that
the net interparticle forces are neither strongly attractive nor
strongly repulsive. For high density particles the maximum solid
loading in wt.% should be much higher. For the Nut coal, the limit
of owable slurries should be 72 wt.% solids, so does that of the
lignite char with a similar solid density. For the East sub-bitumi-
nous coal this limit should be less, at 69 wt.% solids.
The plots of viscosity at a shear rate of 271.8 s 1 versus concen-
tration for the different coals are shown in Fig. 11. All slurries were
produced by mixing powders milled for 30 min and 2 min in an
Fig. 10. The effect of solid concentration on the yield stress of Nut coal slurries of
different particle size distributions, as indicated by the different milling times, with
1.0 dwb% D102.
1.0
Coal slurries Nut coal
30min:2min powder ratio: 1:1 East coal
apparent viscosity (Pa.s)
0.8
East standard coal
1 dwb% D102
0.6
0.4
Lignite char
0.2
= 271.8 s 1
0.0
46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66
solids concentration (wt%)
Fig. 11. The apparent viscositysolid concentration behaviour of lignite char and
various coal slurries containing 1 dwb% D102.
equal weight ratio and with the addition of 1.0 dwb% D102. The
viscosity was measured with a cone-and-plate viscometer. The re-
sults showed almost identical viscositysolid concentration rela-
tionship for East, East Standard and Nut coals, despite a
signicant difference in the solid density between them. The vis-
cositysolid concentration relationship is shifted to a much higher
solid concentration for the lignite char slurries. It is unclear why
the same solid concentration cannot be achieved by the Nut coal
with the same particle density. The reason may lie in the much
lower negative zeta potential of 32.3 mV. This indicates a weaker
repulsion between the coal particles. The rheological behaviour
shows that the occulation of the slurries is due to attractive inter-
particles forces. Fig. 11 showed that the onset of an exponential in-
crease in viscosity occurred at 55 wt.% solids for all three sub-
butuminous coals and 65 wt.% for the lignite char. This concen-
tration where the apparently viscosity is still relatively low, char-
acterized the owable slurry at the maximum solids loading in
the presence of 1.0 dwb% D102.
4. Conclusions
Highly loaded char and coal slurries have been produced with a
range of polar additives. The copolymeric charged additives D101
and D102 are most effective in increasing the solid loading of the
slurry. For the very low ash content lignite char slurries, these
additives introduced strong interparticle repulsive forces as indi-
cated by the high negative zeta potential and caused the slurries
to display Newtonian and mild dilatant behaviour at high solids
loading. Particle size distribution control and the reduction in the
number concentration of colloidal particle interactions can greatly
increase the solid loading of the slurries in addition to the control
of the strength and nature of the interparticle forces via the ad-
sorbed additives. The maximum solid loading of owable suspen-
sion achieved with Oil Mallee char is only 42 wt.%, with sub-
bituminous coal 5664 wt.% and with lignite char 65 wt.%. For
low rank coal such as lignite to achieve solid loading suitable as
a slurry fuel, thermal and densication treatments are essential.
Some of these slurries have achieved solid loading suitable as slur-
ry fuel and with a much ner particle size distribution.
Acknowledgements
R. Chen would like to acknowledge the partial nancial support
of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore, for her visit to UWA as part of
 R. Chen et al. / Fuel 90 (2011) 16891695
the overseas internship program. We wish to thank the referees for
their efforts in making this a better paper.
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