COAL BRIQUETTING IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 23, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: August 20, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1
CENTRAL INTEAW REWI011 REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY UB
thly periodical, book
Noecov/Leningrad
1950, Apr 1953
LANGUAGE Russian
AN "OCnmtomlit IupWYIIM Amen" 111N uiloul nnncg
or "a MInm CU11C 111015 1110 ?mIN CI UMCUCC CC1 Co
CComm 1 n .U UCMCS. m1UU5tlSN5 05 CpW1155
IMIIm no um P UCTW TO TYle p Os.CMI 91Nn. a ne?
SOURCE
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950 - 1953
DATE DIST. /) Aug 1953
NO. OF PAGES 3
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
fumbers in parentheses refer to appended sources.]
Because briquetting of coal is one of the most effective ways of transform-
ing low-grade, small-lump coal into a large-lump, high-grade product, coal bri-
quettes are extensively in demand in industry, transport, and also for domestic
uees.(1)
a binder.
The first USSR briquetting plant, constructed in 1870 in Odessa, prepared
egg-shaped briquettes from anthracite culm. Present-day briquettes differ greatly
in content, shape, and method of preparation. The raw material used in making
them may be fines from bituminous coal, coke, semicoke, or lignite, as well as
ordinary peat.(2) In the case of fuel bituminous coal, briquetting is used only
for the purpose of forming lumps out of fines produced during the course of min-
ing. However, in the case of immature lignite, all run-of-the-mine coal must
be briquetted if it is to be used effectively in the national economy.
That part of the Ukraine vest of the Dnepr has rich supplies of lignite but
until recently there has been little demand for this fuel. The efficiency of
boilers and fireboxes, working on this fuel was low because the moisture content
of the lignite was 50-55 percent. The:baulage;of:such moist fuel also meant an in-
efficient.lntilization of transport.-, However,, the' construction of'large lignite-
briquetting'plants i9 laying the foundatioa`.*64.the efficient exploitation of this
rich deposit and for a consideraple exte miaisl4eir?,the:fuel reserves of the Ukraine.
Depending on the quality of the coal, its age, and its physicochemical prop-
erties, the briquetting process is carried out either without a binder or with
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1
Briquetting with a binder is somewhat more complicated. Fines from zero
to 13 millimeters in size are separated out from run-of-the-mine coal for bri-
quetting. These are crushed to 6 millimeters in size and then dried to a mois-
ture content of 2-3 percent. At the same time, the binder substance is crushed
in another apparatus to a size of one millimeter to zero. Then the coal and
the binder are put together in a mixing device and heated to a temperature of
80 degrees centigrade. The pressing of the batch is carried out at the rela-
tively low pressure of 100-350 kilograms per square centimeter. The prepared
briquette Is cooled.
Soft-textured, immature lignite of the Ukrainian and Bashkirian types and
the harder Moscow basin types are briquetted without a binder. Briquetting
changes the quality of immature lignite substantially, transforming friat.':e,
email-grained, very moist coal into mechanically tough lumps with a high cal-
orific value which are easy to transport.
These coals are generally briquetted without a tinder at a pressure of
1,000-2,000 kilograms per square centimeter. In the run-of-the-mine variety of
immature lignite the moisture content ranges from 40 to 60 percent and the ash
content has a wide range, while the calorific value is 2,800-3,700 calories
(for flu], used in plant oi,erations). Briquetting increases this calorific value
to 4,500-5,000 calories primarily as a result of the reduction in moisture con-
tent to 14-16 percent.
It is to be noted that the largest lignite deposits of the Soviet Union,
including that part of the Ukraine west of the Dnepr River, the Far East, and
the Bashkirskiy ASSR, lie at a shallow depth, which permits mining by the open-
pit method, with the use of highly productive machinery and a sharply reduced
production cost.
A modern briquetting plant consists of the following chief shops or depart-
ments: a crushing-sorting department, a drying-pressing department, a cooling
department, and a shipping and storage department.
In the crushing-sorting department a magnetic separating device of the drum
type is set up to separate out iron particles which may have fallen into the
bath and which might damage the crushing apparatus. Depending on the produc-
tivity of the briquetting plant, the crushing and sorting department consists
of one or several systems, each including the following: screens for sifting
out fines below 4-6 millimeters in size, hammer or roller crushers, and trans-
port installations to convey the crushed coal to the screens-. The crushing and
sorting apparatus is similar to that used in coal-cleaning plants.
In all the most modern briquetting plants, the drying and pressing depart-
ments are combined in one main building of the plant, called the drying-press-
ing department. The moisture content of coal, required for pressing, is deter-
mined experimentally; a definite figure has been set up for each type of coal.
Deviations of,+ 2 percent are permitted. In the case of immature lignite of the
Ukrainian type, the average moisture content required for briquetting is 14-16
percent; this is achieved by subjecting the coal to drying oy steam or by a
stream of,hot gases. Two types of driers are used for steam-drying coal, disk
and drum 4riers, both drying by steam at a low pressure (2.5-3.5 atmospheres).
Die presses are used to press immature lignite. These are manufactured in
three different types: single-die, double-die, and multiple-die presses. The
double-die press is the most widely used.
,The press is started by an electric motor or a steam engine. The capacity
of the electric motor is 165-300 kilowatts.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1
in the Aleksandriyskiy Briquetting Plant, where the coal is dried to a mois-
ture content of 16-17 percent before it is pressed, a gas drier has been operat-
ing for about 15'years. The installation is exceedingly efficient, drying 35=40
tons of coal per hour. The diameter of the pipe with which this machine is
equipped 1s 1,100 millimeters.
Recently, there arose the need for a special type of briquette for which the
coal had to be dried to a moisture content of 8-10 percent before it was pressed,
and a pressure of 1,800-2,000 kilograms per square centimeter had to be reached
in the pressing. Neither steam drying nor the presses assured these results.
However, new gas-drying installations and ring presses made .t possible to meet
the new technical requirements.. The requirement for this special kind of bri-
quette and the construction of new aggregates to'obtain it resulted from the
fact that when lignite contains more than 10 percent of bituminous substances
it becomes a rich raw material for the chemical industry and dozens of valuable
chemical products may be derived from it by suitable processing.
The technological process of briquetting bituminous coal is considerably
more complicated than in the case of lignite, since all bituminous coal requires
the addition of a binder in the process of briquetting. Coal-tar pitch is used
for the binder in the amount of 6-8 percent C-10 percent according to source 27
of the weight of the batch. It has a eoltening point of 50-100 degrees centi-
grade,'a melting point of 100-200 degrees centigrade, and an ash content of about
one percent.
Briquetting of coal with a binder is carried on at a relatively low pressure
(100-350 atmospheres) in roller and disk presses. The most responsible operation
in'the briquetting of bituminous coal is the assuring of an adequate amount of
binder and a thorough mixing.of the coal and binder, since otherwise briquettes
of poor quality will be produced.(1)
One of the chief tasks facing the coal-briquetting industry is to find a
substitute for coal-tar pitch as a binder since this material is expensive and
in short supply. in addition, coal-tar pitch is very useful in such branches
of, industry as road building and roofing. Scientists and workers at briquetting
plants are working on the development of new types of binders.(2)
1. Moscow/Leningrad, 0snovy Obogashcheniya Uglya, Ugletekhizdat, 1950
2. Moscow, Master Uglya, No 4, 1953
-3-
CdNFIDKNTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130004-1