Method and apparatus for dewatering fiber cells

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions, a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of fine material, and a second portion which comprises fine material having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a second layer on top of the first layer, thereby forming a sandwich of spread material;
• and
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich;
• wherein
• the thermal energy application step comprises applying hot process water and saturated steam to the sandwich, and the mechanical energy application step comprises applying surface pressure to the sandwich.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions by screening the input material through a plurality of screening systems arranged in tandem and depositing the portions into hoppers connected in tandem, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of fine material, and a second portion which comprises fine material having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material, wherein the fine material has a grain size of between 0 and 3 mm;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a second layer on top of the first layer;
• depositing and spreading at least one additional portion to form at least one additional layer;
• thereby forming a sandwich of spread material having at least a first, second, and at least one additional layer;
• and
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of fine material, and a second portion which comprises fine material having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material, wherein the fine material has a grain size of between 0 and 3 mm;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a second layer on top of the first layer;
• depositing and spreading at least one additional portion to form at least one additional layer;
• thereby forming a sandwich of spread material having at least a first, second, and at least one additional layer;
• and
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich;
• wherein
• the sandwich is layered such that the layer of the sandwich of materials comprising coarse material is on top and layers comprising finer materials are spread below the top layer, the layers collectively having a gradation in grain size of >50 mm to >0 mm always smaller down to a bottom layer.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions, a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of fine material, and a second portion which comprises fine material having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a second layer on top of the first layer, thereby forming a sandwich of spread material;
• and
• applying thermal energy and pressure to the sandwich;
• wherein the residual amount has a grain size less than 1 mm and comprises less than 10% of the bulk content of the first portion.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions by screening the input material through a plurality of screening systems arranged in tandem and depositing the portions into hoppers connected in tandem, the plurality of portions comprising:
• a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of finer material;
• a second portion which comprises fine material having a residual amount of finer material and having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material;
• and
• a third portion which comprises a superfine material having a grain size of between 0 and 3 mm;
• wherein
• the fine material has a grain size larger than the grain size of the superfine material;
• depositing and spreading the superfine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a second layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a third layer above the first layer, thereby forming a sandwich of spread material;
• and
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions, comprising:
• a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of finer material;
• a second portion which comprises fine material having a residual amount of finer material and having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material;
• and
• a third portion which comprises a superfine material having a grain size of between 0 and 3 mm;
• wherein
• the fine material has a grain size larger than the grain size of the superfine material;
• depositing and spreading the superfine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a second layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a third layer above the first layer, thereby forming a sandwich of spread material;
• and
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich;
• wherein
• at least one layer has a grain size of >50 mm.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions by screening the input material through a plurality of screening systems arranged in tandem and depositing the portions into hoppers connected in tandem, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of fine material, and a second portion which comprises fine material having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material,
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a second layer on above the first layer;
• and
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich.

A method for reducing the moisture content bound by capillarity in fiber cells of solid input materials containing carbon, comprising:

• separating the input material into a plurality of portions, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion which comprises a coarse material having a residual amount of fine material, and a second portion which comprises fine material having a grain size smaller than a grain size of the coarse material;
• depositing and spreading the fine material to form a first layer;
• depositing and spreading the coarse material to form a second layer on above the first layer;
• applying thermal energy and mechanical energy to the sandwich;
• wherein
• at least one layer has a grain size of >50 mm.