Methods and compositions for drying coal

1. A method of reducing the water associated with wet coal fines comprising:

(a) contacting said wet coal fines with at least one water-collecting material;

(b) collecting at least a portion of the water present in the wet coal fines with the water-collecting material, wherein said water-collecting material comprises a desiccant selected from the group consisting of alumina and calcium sulfate;

(c) separating the particles of water-collecting material that contacted said wet coal fines;

(d) removing at least a portion of the water from a portion of said water-collecting material that contacted said wet coal fines by drying; and

(e) recycling at least a portion of the separated and dried water-collecting material from step (d) to step (a), thereby reusing the water-collecting material in a loop system.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said water-collecting material collects water by absorption and/or adsorption.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, prior to the step of contacting said wet coal fines with said water-collecting material, the coal fines are in a mixture comprising water that is subjected to an earlier treatment for removing water.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said earlier treatment is carried out by one or more treatments selected from the group consisting of treatment with air or another gas, filtration, settling, and centrifugation.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said water-collecting material is in the form of particles, wherein said particles have an average diameter that is greater than about mm and wherein said average diameter is less than about 32 mm.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said drying is carried out using a heater.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said separating step comprises size-based separation.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, following the collection of water by the water-collecting material, the amount of water associated with the coal fines by weight is selected from the group consisting of less than about 10%, less than about 8%, less than about 6%, less than about 5% and less than about 4%.

9. A system for removing water from wet coal fines comprising:

(a) a first location in which the wet coal fines are admixed with at least one water-collecting material to form an admixture of wet coal fines and said water-collecting material, wherein said water-collecting material comprises a desiccant selected from the group consisting of alumina and calcium sulfate;

(b) a second location where at least a portion of said water-collecting material is removed from said admixture;

(c) a third location wherein the portion of said water-collecting material removed from said admixture is dried; and

(d) a transporter for transporting at least a portion of the water-collecting material obtained from the third location to be recycled back to the first location for admixture with said wet coal fines, thereby reusing the dried water-collecting material.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein, following the step of forming said admixture, at least 25% of the water (by weight) in the composition is associated with the water-collecting material.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the amount of water by weight that is associated with the water-collecting material is at least 35%.

12. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said water-collecting material comprises alumina.

13. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said water-collecting material is in the form of particles.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein said particles have an average diameter that is greater than about mm and wherein the average diameter is less than about 32 mm.

15. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said second location is configured to provide size-based separation of said water-collecting material from said coal fines.

16. A system according to claim 9 , wherein said removed water-collecting material that formed an admixture of said wet coal fines is dried using a heater.

17. A system according to claim 9 , wherein said dried water-collecting material is recycled in a loop system.