Scope
The object of this book is to supply both geologists and people related to the industry , also as teachers of courses on coal, its geology and uses, with a background of the character of coal and its varying properties, along side the practice and techniques required so as to compile geological data which will enable a coal sequence under investigation to be ultimately evaluated in terms of mineability and saleability. additionally , the choice uses of coal as a source of energy along side the environmental implications of coal usage also are addressed.
Each of those subjects may be a major topic in itself, and therefore the book covers only a quick review of every , highlighting the connection between geology and therefore the development and commercial exploitation of coal.
Coal geology
Coal may be a unique rock type within the geological column, it's a good range of chemical and physical properties, and has been studied over an extended period of your time . This volume is meant to be a basic guide to understanding the variation in coals and their modes of origin, and to the techniques required to guage coal occurrences.
The episodes of coal development within the geological column (e.g. Carboniferous, Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene Periods note that the Paleogene and Neogene Periods are sometimes mentioned collectively as Tertiary) are given along side the principal coal occurrences worldwide. it's accepted that this is often not totally exhaustive which coal does occur in small areas not indicated within the figures or tables.
Current estimates of worldwide resources and reserves of coal along side coal production figures are listed, and although these obviously become dated, they are doing serve to point where the main deposits and mining activity is currently concentrated.
In reference to the extraction of coal, understanding of the geophysical and hydrogeological properties of coals is an integral a part of any coal-mine development, and these are reviewed along side the principal methods of mining coal. The increasing use of technology has had a profound impact on geological and mining studies. a number of the applications of computers to those are discussed.
An important development in recent years has been the attempts to use coal as an alternate energy source by either removing methane gas from the coal and coal mines in place , or by liquefying the coal as an immediate fuel source, or by underground gasification of coal in place . These technologies together are particularly significant in areas where conventional coal mining has ceased or where coal deposits are situated either at depths uneconomic to mine, or in areas where mining is taken into account environmentally undesirable.
Coal use
The principal uses of traded coals worldwide is for electricity generation and steel manufacture, with other industrial users and domestic consumption making up the rest .
Lack of environmental controls within the use of coal within the past has led to both land and pollution also as destruction of habitat. Modern environmental guidelines and legislation are both repairing the damage of the past and preventing a re-occurrence of such phenomena. an overview is given of the kinds of environmental concerns that exist where coal is employed , along side the present position on the improvements in technology in mining techniques, industrial processes and electricity generation emissions.
The marketing of coal is printed along side the contractual and pricing mechanisms commonly employed within the coal producer/coal user situation.
Background
In most industrial countries, coal has historically been a key source of energy and a serious contributor to economic process . In today’s choice of other sources of energy, industrialized economies have seen a change within the role for coal.
Originally coal was used as a source of warmth and power in homes and industry. During the 1950s and 1960s cheap oil curtailed the expansion of coal use, but the uncertainties of oil supply within the 1970s led to a resumption in coal consumption and a rapid climb in international coal trade. This successively was followed by an increasingly unfavourable image for coal as a contributor to green house gas (GHG) emissions and thus closely identified with heating . The industry has responded positively to the present accusation and modern industrial plants have much lower emissions levels than in previous years. Currently coal accounts for 20% of all GHG emissions.