Briquetting process

A process for briquetting particulate matter including:

• partially drying the particulate matter;
• feeding the particulate matter to a briquetting apparatus under gas-forming conditions of temperature and pressure in which a condensable gas is released from the particulate matter during feeding, wherein the condensable gas is allowed to displace and/or prevent the ingress of other non-condensable gaseous components such that the particulate matter is surrounded by and/or intermixed with a gaseous component containing 70-100% by volume of the condensable gas;
• and
• forming briquettes in a briquette forming part of the briquetting apparatus, wherein briquettes are formed from the particulate matter under temperature and pressure conditions which cause the condensable gas to condense, thereby reducing gas pressure buildup during briquette formation and gas blow-back through the particulate matter being fed to the briquette forming part of the briquetting apparatus,
• wherein the process further includes using a precompacting auger to feed the partially dried particulate matter to the briquette forming part of the briquetting apparatus, and applying back pressure to said particulate matter using said precompacting auger and precompacted particulate matter to define a tortuous path to assist in further reducing blow-back of gases through the particulate matter being fed to the briquette forming part of the briquetting apparatus, and
• wherein the gas-forming temperature of the particulate matter ranges from 105° C. to 110° C. and the corresponding vapor pressure between the particles in the particulate matter at a tip of the precompacting auger ranges from 120 to 143 kPa (absolute).