Environment and Safety

55-601443

Solid Fuels
Coal

Dr. Abhishek Asthana

Director Hallam Energy 1
a.asthana@shu.ac.uk
4103 Sheaf Building
 Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock
usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds
or coal seams.

The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as

metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated
temperature and pressure.
Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable
quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulphur, oxygen,
and nitrogen.
 Coal for Electricity
Coal - the largest source of electricity worldwide.
One of the largest worldwide anthropogenic sources of carbon
dioxide releases.
In 1999 world gross carbon dioxide emissions from coal usage
were 8,666 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Coal-fired electric power generation emits around 900 kg of CO2

for every MWhe generated (double of CO2 natural gas-fired electric
plant).
 Coal Types
As geological processes apply pressure to dead biotic material
over time, under suitable conditions it is transformed successively
into:

 Peat:
 A precursor of coal.
 When dry, absorbs fuel and oil spills on land and water.
 Also used as a conditioner for soil to make it more capable of retaining water and slowly
releasing it.
 Lignite:
 Brown coal - the lowest rank of coal.
 Used almost exclusively as fuel for electric power generation.
 Sub-bituminous:
Coal Types
 Between lignite and bituminous coal
 Used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation
 An important source of light aromatic hydrocarbons for chemical industry.
 Bituminous coal:
 Dense sedimentary rock, usually black, but sometimes dark brown
 Often with well-defined bands of bright and dull material
 Used primarily as fuel in steam-electric power generation
 Also for heat and power applications in manufacturing
 Producing coke.
 Steam coal:
 A grade between bituminous coal and anthracite
 Once widely used as a fuel for steam locomotives
 Anthracite:
 The highest rank of coal
 harder, glossy black coal used primarily for residential and commercial space heating.
 Graphite:
 Technically the highest rank
 Difficult to ignite and is not commonly used as fuel
 Mostly used in pencils and, when powdered, as a lubricant.
 Coal Types

The middle six grades in the table represent a progressive transition from the English-language sub-bituminous
to bituminous coal, while the last class is an approximate equivalent to anthracite, but more inclusive
Schematic of the Typical Rates of the
Combustion of Different Types of Coal
 Early uses as fuel
Coal from the Fushun mine in north-eastern China
was used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BCE.

An illustration of Chinese coal miners from the

Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia, published in 1637

Marco Polo, the Italian who travelled to China in 13th century,

described coal—which at that time was unknown to most
Europeans—as
"black stones ... which burn like logs"
"coal was so plentiful, people could take three hot baths a week"
Marco Polo
 History of coal mining
Coal has been mined in various parts of the world throughout history and coal
mining continues to be an important economic activity today.
Compared to wood fuels, coal yields that have higher amount of energy per
mass and can often be obtained in areas where wood is not readily available.
Though historically used as a domestic fuel, coal is now mostly used in
industry, especially in smelting and alloy production as well as electricity
generation.
 History of coal mining
Large-scale coal mining developed during the Industrial Revolution, and coal provided
the main source of primary energy for industry and transportation in industrial areas from
the 18th century to the 1950s.

Britain developed the main techniques of underground coal mining from the late 18th
century onward.
However, oil and its associated fuels began to be used as alternative from the 1860s
onward. By the late 20th century coal was for the most part replaced in domestic as well
as industrial and transportation usage by oil, natural gas or electricity produced from oil,
gas, nuclear power or renewable energy sources.
By 2010, coal produced over a fourth of the world's energy, and by 2050 is expected to
produce about one-third.
 History of coal mining
Since 1890, coal mining has also been a political and social issue. Coal miners'
labour and trade unions became powerful in many countries in the 20th century,
and often the miners were leaders of the Left or Socialist movements (as in
Britain, Germany, Poland, Japan, Canada and the U.S.)

The Farmington coal mine disaster kills 78.

West Virginia, US, 1968.

Coal Dust

Coal Dust Accidents

Pretoria Mine D
isaster

Since 1970, environmental issues have been increasingly important, including

the health of miners, destruction of the landscape from strip mines and
mountaintop removal, air pollution, and coal combustion's contribution to global
warming.
 The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the 18th century, and later spread to
continental Europe, North America, and Japan, was based on the availability of coal to
power steam engines.

International trade expanded exponentially when coal-fed steam engines were built for
the railways and steamships during the Victorian era.
Coal was cheaper and much more efficient than wood fuel in most steam engines.
As central and Northern England contains an abundance of coal, many mines were
situated in these areas as well as the South Wales coalfield and Scotland.
The small-scale techniques were unsuited to the increasing demand, with extraction
moving away from surface extraction to deep shaft mining as the Industrial Revolution
progressed.
The location of the coalfields helped to
make the prosperity of Lancashire, of
Yorkshire, and of South Wales; the
Yorkshire pits which supplied Sheffield
were only about 300 feet deep.
World Coal
Production
& Reserves
RESERVES
 Modern Coal Mining
Open Pit Mining

Underground Mining

Safety for Miners

 Modern Usage of Coal
 Fuel
 Coke production
 Gasification (syngas)
 Liquefaction
 Production of chemicals
 Modern Usage of Coal
 Fuel
 Primarily used to produce electricity and heat through
combustion.
 When used for electricity generation, it is usually pulverized
and then combusted.
 Coke production Coal rail cars
 Coke: a solid carbonaceous residue derived from low-ash,
low-sulphur bituminous coal from which the volatile
constituents are driven off by baking in an oven without
oxygen at temperatures as high as 1,000°C
 Metallurgical coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent
in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace.
 Coke from coal is grey, hard, and porous and has a heating
value of 24.8 million Btu/ton (29.6 MJ/kg).
 Some coke-making processes produce valuable by-
Coke oven at a
products, including coal tar, ammonia, light oils, and coal smokeless fuel plant in
gas. Wales, United Kingdom
 Modern Usage of Coal
 Gasification
 Used to produce syngas, a mixture of CO and H2 gas.
• This syngas can then be converted into transportation fuels, such as gasoline and
diesel, through the Fischer-Tropsch process.
• The hydrogen obtained from gasification can be used for various purposes, such as
powering a hydrogen economy, making ammonia, or upgrading fossil fuels.
• Coal is mixed with O2 and steam, heated and pressurised. The O2 and H2O
molecules oxidise the coal into CO, while also releasing H2. This process has been
conducted in both underground coal mines and in the production of town gas.
C (as Coal) + O2 + H2O → H2 + CO
• If the refiner wants to produce gasoline, the syngas is collected at this state and
routed into a Fischer-Tropsch reaction. If hydrogen is the desired end-product,
however, the syngas is fed into the water gas shift reaction, where more hydrogen
is liberated.
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
• In the past, coal was converted to make coal gas (town gas), which was piped to
customers to burn for illumination, heating, and cooking.
Coal Gasifier Stages & the
Reactions Involved
 Schematic of Underground
Gasification of Coal Seams
H2 + CH4 + CO + CO2 +
H2O + Tars + H2S O2 + Steam

Significant
environmental and
safety benefits
 Modern Usage of Coal
 Liquefaction
 Coal can be converted into synthetic fuels equivalent to gasoline or diesel by
several different processes.
 In liquefaction, the coal is either hydrogenated or carbonized. Hydrogenation
processes are the Bergius process, the SRC-I and SRC-II (Solvent Refined Coal)
processes and the NUS Corporation hydrogenation process.

Video:
How to convert coal to petro
l?

 In the process of low-temperature carbonization, coal is coked at temperatures

between 360 and 750°C.
 These temperatures optimise the production of coal tars richer in lighter
hydrocarbons than normal coal tar. The coal tar is then further processed into fuels.
 Coal
Some Properties
Proximate Analysis is the composition of the major constituents of coal

a- inherent moisture, %: is the concentration of moisture in the coal as received. Moisture

reduces the heating value al.

b- volatile matter, %: Volatiles is the mass loss that is driven off a coal sample when
heated in an inert atmosphere. They consist of vapors of hydrocarbons, tar etc. Coal
of high volatile content (low rank bituminous) is easy to ignite burns fast with a long
orange flame and requires adequate supply of secondary air to ensure the complete
combustion of the released volatiles. On the other hand coal of low volatile content
(e.g.anthracite) is difficult to ignite and slow to burn producing a short flame requiring
an ample supply of primary air.

c- ash, %: Ash in coals consists mainly of mineral matter such as oxides of Si, Fe , Al and
Ca. It is determined as being the left over following the heating of a known coal
sample in a stream of air heated to high temperatures. The presence of ash reduces
the heating value and the caking of coal.

d- fixed carbon, %, [ 100-a-b-c]: this is a term given to the remaining mass after
subtracting the moisture, volatile and ash content of the coal which may not be made
up of entirely carbon.
 Coal
Some Properties II
e- combustible %, is usually reckoned on the basis of the volatiles and fixed
carbon components,– [b+d]

f- rank of coal , this is way of classifying the quality of coal by comparing the
fixed carbon to the volatiles of the fuel, i.e.: d/b, Anthracite has a higher rank
than bituminous coals.

g- ultimate analysis, (chemical): This is the percentage on mass basis of the

various elements and ash making up the dry coal.

h- heating value: Care is needed to find out on what basis the mass of coal is
reckoned. The combustible part of the mass is usually used when
comparing different coals.

i- Other properties: such as caking and swelling properties, ash fusion

temperature, size of pellets and grindability.
Schematic Representation of the Composition of Coal
 There are numerous coal reserves in many parts of the world yet
increasingly more combustion facilities are being denied or phased out
the burning of coal. Contributory factors for this trend:
 The carbon in coal produces CO2, a green house gas. Also, coals contain usually
much environmentally and economically undesirable sulfur, nitrogen, ash and other
impurities.

 Coals vary very widely in quality and composition, with much of the available coal
resources are of relatively poor quality. High quality coal is becoming harder to get
and more expensive

 As a solid the combustion of coal has its problems in comparison to gaseous and
liquid fuels. For example coal needs to be pulverized for rapid and more controlled
combustion with energy intensively needed in its cleaning and milling

 Coal combustion produces the pollutants oxides of sulfur and nitrogen as well as ash
and particulates, contributing to acid rain and air and water pollution. Its combustion
usually has quite low turndown ratios. Emissions from coal applications are more
difficult to remove
 .
 It is hard to transport from points of production to its consumption sites requiring
much energy and the right infra-structure. For economic reasons power needs to be
generated close to coal mines but away from the points of electrical power
consumption and needs. Coal is usually found away from where it is needed

 Coal mining releases both much methane and carbon dioxide green house gases and
with much water pollution. Also serious explosion hazards are associated with coal
bed methane and coal powder that are closely associated with its extraction.
 continued

• Coal still cannot be used readily by the transport sector and much of its usage
is in the production of electrical power. Large plants are needed for its
exploitation efficiently and economically.

• It has to be mined, either through surface or underground methods. Serious

safety and health problems and hazards are associated with its mining . The
surface mining of coal contributes to water, soil and air pollution. There are
negative long term health consequences, to miners and the public.

• Its heating value and other key properties are variable and depend very much
on its quality and composition.

• There are corrosion, erosion and deposits problems with excessive radiative
heat transfer that may not be desirable in some applications.

• Fluidized bed combustion of coal still requires further improvement

• Its combustion is more difficult to control. It takes time to start and stop coal
fired appliances and devices

• Alternative fuels are increasingly available that are more attractive with
economic, technical and environmental problems remaining in its gasification.