Coal
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Coal is a
Coal is used primarily as a fuel. While coal has been known and used for thousands of years, its usage was limited until the Industrial Revolution. With the invention of the steam engine, coal consumption increased.[5] In 2020, coal supplied about a quarter of the world's primary energy and over a third of its electricity.[6] Some iron and steel-making and other industrial processes burn coal.
The extraction and use of coal causes premature death and illness.
The largest consumer and importer of coal in 2020 was China, which accounts for almost half the world's annual coal production, followed by India with about a tenth. Indonesia and Australia export the most, followed by Russia.[17][18]
Etymology
The word originally took the form col in
Formation of coal
The conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called
Of the factors involved in coalification, temperature is much more important than either pressure or time of burial.[23] Subbituminous coal can form at temperatures as low as 35 to 80 °C (95 to 176 °F) while anthracite requires a temperature of at least 180 to 245 °C (356 to 473 °F).[24]
Although coal is known from most geologic
Favorable geography alone does not explain the extensive Carboniferous coal beds.
One theory suggested that about 360 million years ago, some plants evolved the ability to produce
One likely tectonic factor was the Central Pangean Mountains, an enormous range running along the equator that reached its greatest elevation near this time. Climate modeling suggests that the Central Pangean Mountains contributed to the deposition of vast quantities of coal in the late Carboniferous. The mountains created an area of year-round heavy precipitation, with no dry season typical of a monsoon climate. This is necessary for the preservation of peat in coal swamps.[35]
Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants. This coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae.[36][37]
Sometimes coal seams (also known as coal beds) are interbedded with other sediments in a
Chemistry of coalification
The woody tissue of plants is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Modern peat is mostly lignin, with a content of cellulose and hemicellulose ranging from 5% to 40%. Various other organic compounds, such as waxes and nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds, are also present.[39] Lignin has a weight composition of about 54% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 30% oxygen, while cellulose has a weight composition of about 44% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 49% oxygen. Bituminous coal has a composition of about 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on a weight basis.[40] The low oxygen content of coal shows that coalification removed most of the oxygen and much of the hydrogen a process called carbonization.[41]
Carbonization proceeds primarily by dehydration, decarboxylation, and demethanation. Dehydration removes water molecules from the maturing coal via reactions such as[42]
- 2 R–OH → R–O–R + H2O
Decarboxylation removes carbon dioxide from the maturing coal:[42]
- RCOOH → RH + CO2
while demethanation proceeds by reaction such as
- 2 R-CH3 → R-CH2-R + CH4
- R-CH2-CH2-CH2-R → R-CH=CH-R + CH4
In these formulas, R represents the remainder of a cellulose or lignin molecule to which the reacting groups are attached.
Dehydration and decarboxylation take place early in coalification, while demethanation begins only after the coal has already reached bituminous rank.[43] The effect of decarboxylation is to reduce the percentage of oxygen, while demethanation reduces the percentage of hydrogen. Dehydration does both, and (together with demethanation) reduces the saturation of the carbon backbone (increasing the number of double bonds between carbon).
As carbonization proceeds,
Chemical changes are accompanied by physical changes, such as decrease in average pore size.[45]
Macerals
The macerals are coalified plant parts that retain the morphology and some properties of the original plant. In many coals, individual macerals can be identified visually. Some macerals include:[46]
- vitrinite, derived from woody parts
- lipinite, derived from spores and algae
- inertite, derived from woody parts that had been burnt in prehistoric times
- huminite, a precursor to vitrinite.
In coalification huminite is replaced by vitreous (shiny) vitrinite.[47] Maturation of bituminous coal is characterized by bitumenization, in which part of the coal is converted to bitumen, a hydrocarbon-rich gel.[48] Maturation to anthracite is characterized by debitumenization (from demethanation) and the increasing tendency of the anthracite to break with a conchoidal fracture, similar to the way thick glass breaks.[49]
Types
As geological processes apply
- Peat, a precursor of coal
- Lignite, or brown coal, the lowest rank of coal, most harmful to health when burned,[7] used almost exclusively as fuel for electric power generation
- Sub-bituminous coal, whose properties range between those of lignite and those of bituminous coal, is used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation.
- Bituminous coal, a dense sedimentary rock, usually black, but sometimes dark brown, often with well-defined bands of bright and dull material. It is used primarily as fuel in steam-electric power generation and to make coke. Known as steam coal in the UK, and historically used to raise steam in steam locomotives and ships
- space heating.
- Graphite, a difficult to ignite coal which is not not commonly used as fuel; it is most used in pencils, or powdered for lubrication.
- Cannel coal (sometimes called "candle coal"), a variety of fine-grained, high-rank coal with significant hydrogen content, which consists primarily of liptinite. It is related to boghead coal.
There are several international standards for coal.
History
The earliest recognized use is from the Shenyang area of China where by 4000 BC Neolithic inhabitants had begun carving ornaments from black lignite.[52] Coal from the Fushun mine in northeastern China was used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BC.[53] Marco Polo, the Italian who traveled to China in the 13th century, described coal as "black stones ... which burn like logs", and said coal was so plentiful, people could take three hot baths a week.[54] In Europe, the earliest reference to the use of coal as fuel is from the geological treatise On Stones (Lap. 16) by the Greek scientist Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC):[55][56]
Among the materials that are dug because they are useful, those known as anthrakes [coals] are made of earth, and, once set on fire, they burn like charcoal [anthrakes]. They are found in Liguria ... and in Elis as one approaches Olympia by the mountain road; and they are used by those who work in metals.
— Theophrastus, On Stones (16) [57]
No evidence exists of coal being of great importance in Britain before about AD 1000, the
These easily accessible sources had largely become exhausted (or could not meet the growing demand) by the 13th century, when underground extraction by
The alternative name was "pitcoal", because it came from mines.Cooking and home heating with coal (in addition to firewood or instead of it) has been done in various times and places throughout human history, especially in times and places where ground-surface coal was available and firewood was scarce, but a widespread reliance on coal for home hearths probably never existed until such a switch in fuels happened in London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The development of the Industrial Revolution led to the large-scale use of coal, as the steam engine took over from the water wheel. In 1700, five-sixths of the world's coal was mined in Britain. Britain would have run out of suitable sites for watermills by the 1830s if coal had not been available as a source of energy.[69] In 1947 there were some 750,000 miners in Britain,[70] but the last deep coal mine in the UK closed in 2015.[71]
A grade between bituminous coal and anthracite was once known as "steam coal" as it was widely used as a fuel for steam locomotives. In this specialized use, it is sometimes known as "sea coal" in the United States.[72] Small "steam coal", also called dry small steam nuts (DSSN), was used as a fuel for domestic water heating.
Coal played an important role in industry in the 19th and 20th century. The predecessor of the European Union, the European Coal and Steel Community, was based on the trading of this commodity.[73]
Coal continues to arrive on beaches around the world from both natural erosion of exposed coal seams and windswept spills from cargo ships. Many homes in such areas gather this coal as a significant, and sometimes primary, source of home heating fuel.[74]
Composition
Coal consists mainly of a black mixture of diverse organic compounds and polymers. Of course, several kinds of coals exist, with variable dark colors and variable compositions. Young coals (brown coal, lignite) are not black. The two main black coals are bituminous, which is more abundant, and anthracite. The % carbon in coal follows the order anthracite > bituminous > lignite > brown coal. The fuel value of coal varies in the same order. Some anthracite deposits contain pure carbon in the form of graphite.
For bituminous coal, the elemental composition on a dry, ash-free basis of 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on a weight basis.[40] This composition reflects partly the composition of the precursor plants. The second main fraction of coal is ash, an undesirable, noncombustable mixture of inorganic minerals. The composition of ash is often discussed in terms of oxides obtained after combustion in air:
SiO2 | 20–40 |
Al2O3 | 10–35 |
Fe2O3 | 5–35 |
CaO | 1–20 |
MgO | 0.3–4 |
TiO2 | 0.5–2.5 |
Na2O & K2O | 1–4 |
SO3 | 0.1–12[75] |
Of particular interest is the sulfur content of coal, which can vary from less than 1% to as much as 4%. Most of the sulfur and most of the nitrogen is incorporated into the organic fraction in the form of
Minor components include:
Substance | Content |
---|---|
Mercury (Hg) | 0.10±0.01 ppm[76] |
Arsenic (As) | 1.4–71 ppm[77] |
Selenium (Se) | 3 ppm[78] |
As minerals, Hg, As, and Se are not problematic to the environment, especially since they are only trace components. They become however mobile (volatile or water-soluble) when these minerals are combusted.
Uses
While most coal is used as fuel, other large-scale applications exist.
Coke
Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue derived from
- 2Fe2O3 + 6 CO → 4Fe + 6 CO2)
Pig iron, which is too rich in dissolved carbon, is also produced.
The coke must be strong enough to resist the weight of overburden in the blast furnace, which is why coking coal is so important in making steel using the conventional route. Coke from coal is grey, hard, and porous and has a heating value of 29.6 MJ/kg. Some coke-making processes produce byproducts, including coal tar, ammonia, light oils, and coal gas.
Production of chemicals
Chemicals have been produced from coal since the 1950s. Coal can be used as a feedstock in the production of a wide range of chemical fertilizers and other chemical products. The main route to these products was
Because the slate of chemical products that can be made via coal gasification can in general also use feedstocks derived from natural gas and petroleum, the chemical industry tends to use whatever feedstocks are most cost-effective. Therefore, interest in using coal tended to increase for higher oil and natural gas prices and during periods of high global economic growth that might have strained oil and gas production.
Coal to chemical processes require substantial quantities of water.[82] Much coal to chemical production is in China[83][84] where coal dependent provinces such as Shanxi are struggling to control its pollution.[85]
Liquefaction
Coal can be converted directly into
Coal liquefaction may also refer to the cargo hazard when shipping coal.[89]
Gasification
Coal gasification, as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal-fired power station, is used to produce syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) gas to fire gas turbines to produce electricity. Syngas can also be converted into transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, through the Fischer–Tropsch process; alternatively, syngas can be converted into methanol, which can be blended into fuel directly or converted to gasoline via the methanol to gasoline process.[90] Gasification combined with Fischer–Tropsch technology was used by the Sasol chemical company of South Africa to make chemicals and motor vehicle fuels from coal.[91]
During gasification, the coal is mixed with
- 3C (as Coal) + O2 + H2O → H2 + 3CO
If the refiner wants to produce gasoline, the syngas is routed into a Fischer–Tropsch reaction. This is known as indirect coal liquefaction. If hydrogen is the desired end-product, however, the syngas is fed into the
- CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
Electricity generation
Energy density
The
27.6% of world energy was supplied by coal in 2017 and Asia used almost three-quarters of it.[94]
Precombustion treatment
Refined coal is the product of a coal-upgrading technology that removes moisture and certain pollutants from lower-rank coals such as sub-bituminous and lignite (brown) coals. It is one form of several precombustion treatments and processes for coal that alter coal's characteristics before it is burned. Thermal efficiency improvements are achievable by improved pre-drying (especially relevant with high-moisture fuel such as lignite or biomass).[95] The goals of precombustion coal technologies are to increase efficiency and reduce emissions when the coal is burned. Precombustion technology can sometimes be used as a supplement to postcombustion technologies to control emissions from coal-fueled boilers.
Power plant combustion
Coal burnt as a
When coal is used for
A few
In 2017 38% of the world's electricity came from coal, the same percentage as 30 years previously.
Maximum use of coal was reached in 2013.[108] In 2018 coal-fired power station capacity factor averaged 51%, that is they operated for about half their available operating hours.[109]
Coal industry
Mining
About 8,000 Mt of coal are produced annually, about 90% of which is hard coal and 10% lignite. As of 2018[update] just over half is from underground mines.[110] More accidents occur during underground mining than surface mining. Not all countries publish mining accident statistics so worldwide figures are uncertain, but it is thought that most deaths occur in coal mining accidents in China: in 2017 there were 375 coal mining related deaths in China.[111] Most coal mined is thermal coal (also called steam coal as it is used to make steam to generate electricity) but metallurgical coal (also called "metcoal" or "coking coal" as it is used to make coke to make iron) accounts for 10% to 15% of global coal use.[112]
As a traded commodity
China mines almost half the world's coal, followed by India with about a tenth.[113] Australia accounts for about a third of world coal exports, followed by Indonesia and Russia,[18] while the largest importers are Japan and India. Russia is increasingly orienting its coal exports from Europe to Asia as Europe transitions to renewable energy and subjects Russia to sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.[18]
The price of metallurgical coal is volatile[114] and much higher than the price of thermal coal because metallurgical coal must be lower in sulfur and requires more cleaning.[115] Coal futures contracts provide coal producers and the electric power industry an important tool for hedging and risk management.
In some countries, new onshore wind or solar generation already costs less than coal power from existing plants.[116][117] However, for China this is forecast for the early 2020s[118] and for southeast Asia not until the late 2020s.[119] In India, building new plants is uneconomic and, despite being subsidized, existing plants are losing market share to renewables.[120]
Market trends
Of the countries which produce coal, China mines by far the most, almost half the world's coal, followed by less than 10% by India. China is also by far the largest consumer of coal. Therefore, international market trends depend on Chinese energy policy.[121] Although the government effort to reduce air pollution in China means that the global long-term trend is to burn less coal, the short and medium term trends may differ, in part due to Chinese financing of new coal-fired power plants in other countries.[105]
Major producers
Countries with an annual production higher than 300 million tonnes are shown.
Country | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | Share (2017) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
China | 1,384 | 2,350 | 3,235 | 3,747 | 3,523 | 46% |
India | 335 | 429 | 574 | 678 | 716 | 9% |
United States | 974 | 1,027 | 984 | 813 | 702 | 9% |
Australia | 314 | 375 | 424 | 485 | 481 | 6% |
Indonesia | 77 | 152 | 275 | 392 | 461 | 6% |
Russia | 262 | 298 | 322 | 373 | 411 | 5% |
Rest of World | 1,380 | 1,404 | 1,441 | 1,374 | 1,433 | 19% |
World total | 4,726 | 6,035 | 7,255 | 7,862 | 7,727 | 100% |
Major consumers
Countries with an annual consumption higher than 500 million tonnes are shown. Shares are based on data expressed in tonnes oil equivalent.
Country | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Share |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
China | 2,691 | 2,892 | 3,352 | 3,677 | 4,538 | 4,678 | 4,539 | 3,970 coal + 441 met coke = 4,411 | 3,784 coal + 430 met coke = 4,214 | 51% |
India | 582 | 640 | 655 | 715 | 841 | 837 | 880 | 890 coal + 33 met coke = 923 | 877 coal + 37 met coke = 914 | 11% |
United States | 1,017 | 904 | 951 | 910 | 889 | 924 | 918 | 724 coal + 12 met coke = 736 | 663 coal + 10 met coke = 673 | 9% |
World Total | 7,636 | 7,699 | 8,137 | 8,640 | 8,901 | 9,013 | 8,907 | 7,893 coal + 668 met coke = 8561 | 7,606 coal + 655 met coke = 8261 | 100% |
Major exporters
Country | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Indonesia | 408 | 443 | 410 | 434 |
Australia | 382 | 393 | 371 | 366 |
Russia | 212 | 223 | 222 | 238 |
United States | 105 | 85 | 63 | 77 |
South Africa | 80 | 79 | 75 | 66 |
Colombia | 84 | 72 | 68 | 56 |
Canada | 32 | 36 | 32 | 32 |
Netherlands | 30 | 28 | 15 | 27 |
Kazakhstan | 26 | 26 | 25 | 24 |
Mongolia | 36 | 36 | 29 | 20 |
Exporters are at risk of a reduction in import demand from India and China.[128][18]
Major importers
Country | 2018 |
---|---|
China | 281 |
India | 223 |
Japan | 189 |
South Korea | 149 |
Taiwan | 76 |
Germany | 44 |
Netherlands | 44 |
Turkey | 38 |
Malaysia | 34 |
Thailand | 25 |
Damage to human health
The use of coal as fuel causes health problems and deaths.[132] The mining and processing of coal causes air and water pollution.[133] Coal-powered plants emit nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate pollution, and heavy metals, which adversely affect human health.[133] Coal bed methane extraction is important to avoid mining accidents.
The deadly London smog was caused primarily by the heavy use of coal. Globally coal is estimated to cause 800,000 premature deaths every year,[134] mostly in India[135] and China.[136][137][138]
Burning coal is a major contributor to sulfur dioxide emissions, which creates PM2.5 particulates, the most dangerous form of air pollution.[139]
Coal smokestack emissions cause
Annual health costs in Europe from use of coal to generate electricity are estimated at up to €43 billion.[142]
In China, improvements to air quality and human health would increase with more stringent climate policies, mainly because the country's energy is so heavily reliant on coal. And there would be a net economic benefit.[143]
A 2017 study in the
Breathing in
Huge amounts of coal ash and other waste is produced annually. Use of coal generates hundreds of millions of tons of ash and other waste products every year. These include
Around 10% of coal is ash.
Damage to the environment
Water systems are affected by coal mining.[153] For example, the mining of coal affects groundwater and water table levels and acidity. Spills of fly ash, such as the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill, can also contaminate land and waterways, and destroy homes. Power stations that burn coal also consume large quantities of water. This can affect the flows of rivers, and has consequential impacts on other land uses. In areas of water scarcity, such as the Thar Desert in Pakistan, coal mining and coal power plants contribute to the depletion of water resources.[154]
One of the earliest known impacts of coal on the water cycle was acid rain. In 2014, approximately 100 Tg/S of sulfur dioxide (SO2) was released, over half of which was from burning coal.[155] After release, the sulfur dioxide is oxidized to H2SO4 which scatters solar radiation, hence its increase in the atmosphere exerts a cooling effect on the climate. This beneficially masks some of the warming caused by increased greenhouse gases. However, the sulfur is precipitated out of the atmosphere as acid rain in a matter of weeks,[156] whereas carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Release of SO2 also contributes to the widespread acidification of ecosystems.[157]
Disused coal mines can also cause issues. Subsidence can occur above tunnels, causing damage to infrastructure or cropland. Coal mining can also cause long lasting fires, and it has been estimated that thousands of
The production of coke from coal produces ammonia, coal tar, and gaseous compounds as byproducts which if discharged to land, air or waterways can pollute the environment.
Emission intensity
Underground fires
Thousands of coal fires are burning around the world.
At Kuh i Malik in
The reddish siltstone rock that caps many ridges and buttes in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and in western North Dakota is called porcelanite, which resembles the coal burning waste "clinker" or volcanic "scoria".[169] Clinker is rock that has been fused by the natural burning of coal. In the Powder River Basin approximately 27 to 54 billion tons of coal burned within the past three million years.[170] Wild coal fires in the area were reported by the Lewis and Clark Expedition as well as explorers and settlers in the area.[171]
Climate change
The largest and most long-term effect of coal use is the release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes climate change. Coal-fired power plants were the single largest contributor to the growth in global CO2 emissions in 2018,[173] 40% of the total fossil fuel emissions,[9] and more than a quarter of total emissions.[8][note 1] Coal mining can emit methane, another greenhouse gas.[174][175]
In 2016 world gross
Pollution mitigation
Economics
In 2018 US$80 billion was invested in coal supply but almost all for sustaining production levels rather than opening new mines.[181] In the long term coal and oil could cost the world trillions of dollars per year.[182][183] Coal alone may cost Australia billions,[184] whereas costs to some smaller companies or cities could be on the scale of millions of dollars.[185] The economies most damaged by coal (via climate change) may be India and the US as they are the countries with the highest social cost of carbon.[186] Bank loans to finance coal are a risk to the Indian economy.[135]
China is the largest producer of coal in the world. It is the world's largest energy consumer, and coal in China supplies 60% of its primary energy. However two fifths of China's coal power stations are estimated to be loss-making.[118]
Air pollution from coal storage and handling costs the US almost 200 dollars for every extra ton stored, due to PM2.5.[187] Coal pollution costs the €43 billion each year.[188] Measures to cut air pollution benefit individuals financially and the economies of countries[189][190] such as China.[191]
Subsidies
Subsidies for coal in 2021 have been estimated at US$19 billion, not including electricity subsidies, and are expected to rise in 2022.[192] As of 2019[update] G20 countries provide at least US$63.9 billion[173] of government support per year for the production of coal, including coal-fired power: many subsidies are impossible to quantify[193] but they include US$27.6 billion in domestic and international public finance, US$15.4 billion in fiscal support, and US$20.9 billion in state-owned enterprise (SOE) investments per year.[173] In the EU state aid to new coal-fired plants is banned from 2020, and to existing coal-fired plants from 2025.[194] As of 2018, government funding for new coal power plants was supplied by Exim Bank of China,[195] the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Indian public sector banks.[196] Coal in Kazakhstan was the main recipient of coal consumption subsidies totalling US$2 billion in 2017.[197] Coal in Turkey benefited from substantial subsidies in 2021.[198]
Stranded assets
Some coal-fired power stations could become
Politics
Countries building or financing new coal-fired power stations, such as China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey and Bangladesh, face mounting international criticism for obstructing the aims of the Paris Agreement.[105][203][204] In 2019, the Pacific Island nations (in particular Vanuatu and Fiji) criticized Australia for failing to cut their emissions at a faster rate than they were, citing concerns about coastal inundation and erosion.[205] In May 2021, the G7 members agreed to end new direct government support for international coal power generation.[206]
Cultural usage
Coal is the
Some cultures hold that children who misbehave will receive only a lump of coal from Santa Claus for Christmas in their stockings instead of presents.
It is also customary and considered lucky in
See also
- Biochar – Lightweight black residue, made of carbon and ashes, after pyrolysis of biomass
- Carbochemistry – Branch of chemistry
- Coal analysis – Measurement of properties of coal
- Coal blending – Mixing of mined coal
- Coal homogenization – Process of mixing coal to reduce variance
- Coal measures (stratigraphic unit)
- Health and environmental impact of the coal industry
- Fluidized bed combustion – Technology used to burn solid fuels
- Fossil fuel phase-out – Gradual reduction of the use and production of fossil fuels
- Gytta – type of fine grained sedimentary mud
- Coal-mining region – Basin with coal deposits
- Mountaintop removal mining – Type of surface mining
- The Coal Question – Book by William Stanley Jevons
- Tonstein – Type of sedimentary rock
- World Coal Association– international non-profit, non-governmental association based in London representing the global coal industry
Notes
- ^ 14.4 gigatonnes coal/50 gigatonnes total
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Further reading
- Freese, Barbara (2003). Coal: A Human History. Penguin Books. OCLC 51449422.
- Thurber, Mark (2019). Coal. Polity Press. ISBN 978-1509514014.
- Paxman, Jeremy (2022). Black Gold : The History of How Coal Made Britain. William Collins. ISBN 9780008128364.
External links
- Coal Transitions
- World Coal Association
- Coal – International Energy Agency
- Coal Online – International Energy Agency Archived 19 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- CoalExit
- European Association for Coal and Lignite
- Coal news and industry magazine
- Global Coal Plant Tracker
- Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 574–93. .
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
.
- Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. .