Abstract: A process to irreversibly dry and passivate lignitic coal, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, or coal char by heating the coal material in the presence of a gas comprised of less than about five volume percent of oxygen (an inert environment) until the coal material has a moisture content of from about 0.01 to about 20 weight percent, heating the partially dried coal material to 100 to about 600 degrees Fahrenheit, charging the heated partially dried coal material to a fluidized bed reactor; feeding air into the fluidized bed reactor; contacting the heated partially dried coal material with the air while maintaining the heated partially dried coal material at a temperature of from about 450 to about 650 degrees Fahrenheit; and, thereafter, removing water from the heated partially dried coal material until no more than about 1 weight percent of water remains in the heated partially dried coal material.

Abstract: A multistage process for drying coal in which coal is passed into a first fluidized bed reactor at a temperarture of 300 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit, air is fed into the first reactor in order to maintain the density of the fluidized bed at from 20 to 50 pounds per cubic foot, and from about 40 to about 60 percent of the water from the coal is removed from the coal and the first reactor. The partially dried coal is then fed to a second fluidized bed reactor which is maintained at a temperature at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that present in the first reactor, and substantially all of the water remaining in the coal is removed from the coal.