United States Patent: 4210457

Herein we submit yet more documentation of the facts that Coal Ash can serve as a property-enhancing component of Portland-type Cement and, after some processing, as an additional or alternative aggregate in Portland Cement Concrete.

First, both of the Coal Ash utilization technologies we submit herein were developed by scientists in the employ of W.R. Grace and Company; who, if you are unfamiliar with them, are most definitely not an insignificant or un-credible source.

United States Patent: 4071331

In an earlier dispatch, now accessible via:

West Virginia Coal Association | Phillips CO2 + Coal + H2O = Methane | Research & Development;

we made report of:

"US Patent 4,011,058 - Production of Substitute Natural Gas from Gasification of Coal Char; 1977; Inventors: Marvin Johnson, et. al.; Assignee: Phillips Petroleum Company, OK; Abstract: A carbonaceous material is converted to a fuel gas which is fungible with natural gas by a combination of steps comprising gasifying the carbonaceous material in the presence of air and carbon dioxide, purifying the effluent stream and separating carbon monoxide therefore, catalytically reacting steam with the separated carbon monoxide and recovering a methane-rich product gas";

http://www.nrcce.wvu.edu/conferences/2004/China/presentations/Fletcher_Sun.pdf

We've made several reports over the years concerning the intriguing partnership that has evolved between West Virginia University and China, relative to China's plans for the development of an industry founded on the conversion of Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.

One, for example, from two and a half years ago, can be accessed on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site via:

United States Patent: 4425440 

In addition to the vast commercial market that exists, to some large extent not yet fully exploited, for the productive and profitable use of Coal Ash in the making of Portland Cement and Portland Cement Concrete, which we have already documented in many previous reports and will document further, another large, and perhaps largely untapped, market for Coal Ash exists as a mineral filler in the manufacture of plastics composites.

The word "filler" is an unfortunate one to use, since it implies that a product is being "cheapened" somehow by the addition of a filler.