Curius about oil solution that is sprayed on rice coal

Hi,

Does anyone burn rice coal that has been treated with an oil solution? I unerstand the treatment is supposed to increase BTU while decreasing dust and am just wondering if it really works.

And if this oil solution works better than sprinkling water on bulk coal, has anyone found the soultions formula; peanut oil mixed with ?, and tried to apply the solution on their own bulk supply?

This is my second year burning coal and I'm very happy over all, but would like to eliminate the water sprinkler step if possible.

Thanks,
Mary T

I'm mostly guessing here, but I think the rice coal has this oil on it because most rice coal is used in stoker mechanisms. The oil reduces dust, but helps keep the coal a bit slippery, and the auger, bin, hopper, and other parts of the stoker slightly lubricated and reduce rusting

This may be totally off-base, but it is what I've always thought the oil instead of water was all about.

Greg L

Hi Mary,
I think the oil is used because of dust from the coal. If you use dry coal and pour it into your hopper, there will be a cloud of black if you don't take your time or water it down. But there are other benifits, the burnt oil produces a soot on the inside of your stove and helps stop the rust from forming in the summer. Also as someone said, it puts a film on the inside of the hopper and helps to ease the cleaning of the glass. As far as the BTU's, I would wonder about that.
Jerry

A friend of mine used to have nut coal delievered with an oil solution added and he said that it worked well at keeping the dust down. My supplier doesn't offer the oiled coal.
It would be great to learn what is used to oil the coal, as I also sprinkle my coal w/ water to keep the dust down. Hopefully someone here will have the reciepe.

I just asked an old timer about the use of oil on anthracite coal. His first response went something like this " fine/small coal was separarted from non coal using froth flotation mechanism". This type of seperation required the use of an oil substance to work, however this process is no longer performed as more effeciant means have been implemented(spiral seperation which uses water and gravity). After this, I explained they were delivering coal washed with oil and I could not understand why? His next explanation made sense and went like this: Oil, usually fuel oil is sprayed on the finer coals as they usually contain 10% or more of moisture or water content. This oil should decrease the clumping of the coal. Clumping of the coal is generally due to the moistue contained in the coal and from the seperation process, freezing below 32 degrees F. Lastly he also stated it keeps the dust down. I hope this was helpful and not to long.

They don't have this where I purchase my coal from but it's primarily to keep the dust down and is sprayed on. BTU's it generates would be negligible as very little is used due to the cost. I've actually considered adding this as an additional service, basically spraying as it's being off loaded but came to the conclusion it's probably not worth it to carry around a 55 gallon drum of oil. Not exactly sure how much would be required for a ton of coal.

The composition I can definitely say is organic based. They have a old drum over the breaker, I'll have to look to see if it has the contents listed if I remember.

I just talked to a co-worker who said he saw the delivery person spray the coal with oil as it went down the chute.