Abstract: Where as-mined coal or a washed coal derived therefrom is burned in a pulverized coal-fired boiler, improvements both in the utilization of the overall fuel values of the as-mined coal and in the operating efficiency of the boiler are obtained by installing a fluid bed combustor in the same combustion chamber as the pulverized fuel burner system of the boiler, and preferably below the burner system, and supplying as the fuel to the combustor a fuel comprising coal washery tailings preferably mixed with high ash solid washery residue.

Abstract: An economic route to transport fuels from low grade feedstocks containing organic polycyclic components and mineral and/or metallic components comprises separating the feedstock into (a) a residue containing fuel values and substantially all of the mineral and metallic components and (b) a liquid hydrocarbon fraction; hydrogenating the liquid hydrocarbon fraction; providing hydrogen for the hydrogenation by steam reforming methane-containing gas recovered from the hydrogenated material; and providing the heat for the steam reforming by immersing the reformer reactor tubes in a fluidized bed heated by combustion of residue from the separation step. If the fluidized bed is pressurized, the process can be made substantially self-contained with all the heat and power requirements for steam generation and feedstock compression for hydrogenation and steam reforming being recovered from the flue gas.