bitumen heavy oil and emulsions thereof in a preferred aspect a light hydrocarbon diluent selected from the group consisting of kerosene naphtha and diesel oil is added to improve the agglomeration results application_number US 62871084 A description the coal feedstock employed in the present process consists of low rank sub bituminous coal fines in an aqueous slurry the carbon content of these coals ranges between 78 to 74 the moisture content of the coal fines feedstock ranges from air dry to 30 water content the solids concentration of fines to water was found to effect the kinetics of the agglomeration process and the size of the agglomerates formed the preferred solids concentration would be in the range of about 28 34 fines to water the particle size of the feed coal and the particle size distribution influence the final diameter of the formed agglomerates the particle size diameters would be below about 2 mm and preferably would be from about 0 01 to 0 2 mm typically the desired mass of coal feed is initially mixed with an amount of water to make up the required solids concentration a suitable amount of agglomeration agent is then added to the resultant slurry the agglomeration agent comprises a bridging liquid containing low quality oil therein as a preferred aspect a diluent additive may be combined with the bridging liquid to form the agglomeration agent the amount of agglomeration agent required is dependent upon the available wetting surface of the coal particles generally an increase in the median diameter of the feed coal particles results.