Coal

Formation:
• Formed from plant or animal material buried millions of years ago
• Anaerobic conditions
• As it is buried there is increased pressure and heat

Types:
• Older deposits are generally more useful
• Older coal has a higher carbon and energy content

• Lignite (brown coal):
 - sedimentary
 - limited supplies in most areas
 - low sulfur content
 - low heat content

• Bituminous (soft coal):
 - sedimentary
 - extensively used
 - high sulfur content
 - high heat content
 - large supplies

• Anthracite (hard coal):
 - limitied supplies in most areas
 - low sulfur content
 - metamorphic
 - high heat content
 - highly desrirable


Uses:
• China is the worlds largest user of coal, followed by the USA
• China has 11% of world reserves
• Used to generate 62% of the worlds electricity
• Electricity generation
• Iron and steel industry
• Provides about 22% of the commercial energy used in the world and the US
• Used to generate 75% of the worlds steel
• Countries getting more than 1/2 of the energy they use from coal:
 - South Africa - 78%
 - China - 73%
 - Poland - 68%
 - India - 57%
 - Kazakstan - 54%


Environmental Impact:

•Extraction:
 •Open cast:
 - Noise pollution
 - Habitat destruction
 - Dust
 - Cannot access deeper deposits
 - Highly mechanised = cheap

 •Shaft mining:
 - Cave ins
 - Flooding
 - Gas leaks
 - Noise/dust pollution

•Air pollution from transportation

•Use:
 • Contains lots of sulphur:
 - acid rain
 - dissolves buildings - limestone
 - destroys trees
 - sent massive cloud of sulphur over to Norway

•Coal fired power stations:
 - UK releases 5-10 million tonnes of CO2 every year
 - Particals of toxic mercury
- 60,000 babies a year may be born with neurological damage from exposure to mercury in pregnant women


Future:

• Coal liquefaction or gasification
• World consumption is expected to increase by 49% from 2006 to 2030
• Scrubbers to reduce CO2 and particulates
• Most growth in NICs
• Moves to clean coal technology could increase even in the developed world
• CCT - treat it and wash it, turn it into a gas then burn the gas which is cleaner than the coal
• Worlds most abundant fossil fuel
• World identified reserves  of coal should last at least 225 years at current usage rate
• 65 years left of coal if usage rises 2% per year
• identified US coal reserves should last 300 years at current consumption rate
• China has 11% of world reserves which will last 300 years at current consumption rate
• Resources at the moment could become reserves as more technically becomes available
• US FutureGen programme - $1 billion - demonstrates commercial viability of near zero emission coal fuelled power
• Japan, Australia and Europe all have their own Clean Coal Technology programmes
• Carbon capture/sequestration