Coal slurry drying apparatus

A slurry drier comprising a pulverizer having a housing enclosing a pulverizing zone including horizontally disposed upper and lower grinding rings, a circular row of rotatable grinding elements positioned between the upper and lower rings, means for passing heated carrier air through the pulverizing zone, a fixed tubular walled conduit for delivering slurry to be dried and pulverized in the pulverizing zone, the conduit having a horizontally oriented outlet section surrounded by the grinding elements and discharging thereto, and a vertically oriented section connected to the outlet section and extending upwardly through the top of the housing, and wherein insulation covers the walls of the horizontally and vertically oriented sections thereby inhibiting the drying of slurry within said conduit.