Finding Coal

Coal reserves are discovered through exploration activities. Modern exploration techniques are
aimed at accurately assessing the location, quality and quantity of coal in a coalfield. In order to achieve
this there are three broad categories of tools available to geologists: mapping, geophysical methods and
drilling (The Open University).

Mapping

Data acquired from satellites or aircraft are assessed before geologists start exploring the ground. The
Global Positioning System (GPS), now increasingly used for navigation, uses signals from satellites to
pinpoint locations precisely, so that geologists can more easily create accurate maps in the field. Field
data are increasingly processed using spatial analysis software to create digital maps of coal outcrops
and to model the likely extension of the coal beneath the surface.

Geophysical methods

Geophysical survey methods use measurements made at or near the Earth's surface to investigate the
subsurface geology. The most widely used geophysical method is seismic reflection surveying; a rapid
and highly cost-effective way of gathering data.

Schematic diagram of seismic reflection surveying

Image source: https://geoexpert.ch/methods/reflection-seismic-surveying/

A seismic source (produced either by the explosive release of compressed air in a shallow borehole, or a
heavy pad vibrated hydraulically at the surface) generates seismic waves that travel through the ground.
These are reflected at buried geological boundaries and return to the surface where their amplitude and
time of arrival are recorded by an array of detectors. Data produced by moving the positions of both
source and detectors along a surface traverse is processed by computer to produce a seismic
section through the Earth along the line of the survey, which take the form of a vertical cross-section.
The data in a seismic section enables the subsurface geological structure to be visualized. However,
eventually, the interpretation has to be related to reality by drilling vertical boreholes to sample inferred
rocks directly.

Drilling

This phase of exploration only begins when all the data have been gathered from pre-existing geological
and topographic maps, aerial/satellite photographs, geological mapping and from seismic surveying. The
thickness and quality of a coal seam in an area are first determined by drilling boreholes a few
kilometers apart using a grid pattern. Mobile drilling rigs use a powerful motor to rotate a drill bit
attached to a series of steel rods within the hole. If substantial samples are required when a coal seam is
penetrated, a cutting barrel can be used in place of the solid drill bit to drill out a cylinder of rock, called
a core. Coring sequences of strata is slow and expensive, and is only undertaken when details from cores
are essential. Coal samples are usually recovered from the core for chemical analysis, to measure its
carbon (i.e. rank), Sulphur and ash content.

Mining Coal

The choice of mining method is largely determined by the geology of the coal deposit. Coal can
be extracted from the earth either by surface mining or underground mining. Underground mining
currently accounts for about 60% of the world coal production, although in several important coal
producing countries surface mining is more common (World Coal Institute, 2005).

Surface mining

Image Source: https://www.miningreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Coal-comeback-640x365.jpg

Surface mining is only economic when the coal seam is near the surface around 61 meters underground
(National Geographic Society). This method recovers a higher proportion of the coal deposit than
underground mining as all coal seams are exploited - 90% or more of the coal can be recovered. Large
opencast mines can cover an area of many square kilometers and use very large pieces of equipment,
such as draglines, power shovels, large trucks, bucket wheel excavators and conveyors (World Coal
Institute, 2005)

In surface mining, workers simply remove any overlying sediment, vegetation, and rock,
called overburden. The overburden of soil and rock is first broken up by explosives; it is then removed by
draglines or by shovel and truck. Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured and systematically
mined in strips. Economically, surface mining is a cheaper option for extracting coal than underground
mining. About two and a half times as much coal can be extracted per worker, per hour, than is possible
with underground mining. The three main types of surface coal mining are strip mining, open-pit mining,
and mountaintop removal (MTR) mining (National Geographic Society)

Strip Mining

Loading of coal in a striped mine in Wyoming

Image Source: Wyoming Mining Association

Strip mining is used where coal seams are located very near the surface and can be removed in
massive layers, or strips. Strip mining can be used in both flat and hilly landscapes. Strip mining
in a mountainous area is called contour mining. Contour mining follows the ridges, or contours,
around a hill (National Geographic Society).

Open Pit Mining

Open Pit Mine
Image Source: http://www.lavdc.net/portail/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Mine-a-ciel-ouvert.jpg

Open-pit mining is used when coal is located deeper underground. A pit, sometimes called a
borrow, is dug in an area. This pit becomes the open-pit mine, sometimes called a quarry. Open-
pit mines can expand to huge dimensions, until the coal deposit has been mined or the cost of
transporting the overburden is greater than the investment in the mine. Open-pit mining is
usually restricted to flat landscapes. After the mine has been exhausted, the pit is sometimes
converted into a landfill (National Geographic Society).

Mountain Top Removal

 Image Source: http://www.wspus.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/coal.jpg

The entire summit of a mountain is stripped of its overburden: rocks, trees, and
topsoil. Overburden is often hauled to nearby valleys, earning the process the nickname “valley
fill” mining. After the summit is cleared of vegetation, explosives are used to expose the coal
seam. After the coal is extracted, the summit is sculpted with overburden from the next
mountaintop to be mined. By law, valuable topsoil is supposed to be saved and replaced after
mining is done. Barren land can be replanted with trees and other vegetation (National
Geographic Society).

Underground Mining

Underground mining, sometimes called deep mining, is necessary when the coal is several hundred
meters below the surface. Some underground mines are 300 meters deep and extend for miles. Miners
ride elevators down the deep mine shafts and travel on small trains in long tunnels to get the coal seam
(US Energy Information Administration). There are three major types of underground coal mining:
longwall mining, room-and-pillar mining, and retreat mining.

Longwall mining

Longwall shearer machine

Image Source: https://www.enefit.com/-/doc/6983966/technology/Mining/Longwall.jpg

Longwall mining involves the full extraction of coal from a section of the seam, or 'face' using
mechanical shearers. A longwall face requires careful planning to ensure favorable geology
exists throughout the section before development begins. The coal 'face' can vary in length from
100 – 350 meter. Self-advancing, hydraulically-powered supports temporarily hold up the roof
while coal is extracted. When coal has been extracted from the area, the roof is allowed to
collapse. Over 75% of the coal in the deposit can be extracted from panels of coal that can
extend 3 kilometer through the coal seam (World Coal Institute, 2005)

Room-and-Pillar mining

Continuous miner used for room and pillar mining

Image Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/d68ud3BG1QM/maxresdefault.jpg

In room-and-pillar mining, coal deposits are mined by cutting a network of 'rooms' into the coal
seam and leaving behind 'pillars' of coal to support the roof of the mine. These pillars can be up
to 40% of the total coal in the seam (World Coal Institute, 2005). There are two types of room-
and-pillar mining: conventional and continuous. In conventional mining, explosives and cutting
tools are used. In continuous mining, a sophisticated machine called a continuous miner extracts
the coal (National Geographic Society).

Retreat mining

Retreat mining is a variation of room-and-pillar. When all available coal has been extracted from
a room, miners abandon the room, carefully destroy the pillars, and let the ceiling cave in.
Remains of the giant pillars supply even more coal. Retreat mining may be the most dangerous
method of mining. A great amount of stress is put on the remaining pillars, and if they are not
pulled out in a precise order, they can collapse and trap miners underground (National
Geographic Society).
Processing coal

Once the coal has been mined it needs to be processed. The coal first goes to a preparation
plant where it is washed or cleaned to remove contaminants. The cleaning removes impurities like
rocks, ash, sulfur and other substances. Coal that is going to be burned in solid form may go through a
variety of preparation processes. The simplest of these is removing foreign material and screening for
size. Large pieces may be crushed or pulverized to a useful size. Because mined coal may have lumps up
to 3 feet or so in size, this is usually a two stage process. First the coal is crushed in a feeder breaker
which breaks the biggest lumps, and then through a roll crusher, which breaks it down to a smaller size.
After the coal has been processed it is then cleaned and transported by trucks, trains and river barges to
markets. Some coal is crushed and mixed with water and transported through pipelines (US Energy
Information Administration).

Transporting coal

The way that coal is transported to where it will be used depends on the distance to be covered.
Coal is transported generally transported by conveyors or trucks over short distances. Trains and barges
are used for longer distances within domestic markets, or alternatively coal can be mixed with water to
form a coal slurry and transported through pipelines. Ships commonly used for international
transportation.

Short Transport - Transports coal from the coal mine to the coal processing plant

Conveyor, Shuttle car and Truck

Domestic Transport - Transports coal from the processing plant to domestic markets or to coal
international ports

Train and Barges

 International Transport - Transports coal from ports to other ports of other countries. Coal are
transported to other international ports. About 700 million metric tonnes was traded internationally in
2003 (World Coal Institute, 2005)

Ship
Image Sources:
Conveyor: https://4.imimg.com/data4/XE/PC/MY-27782057/coal-conveyor-exports-500x500.jpg
Shuttle car: https://cfnewsads.thomasnet.com/images/medium/568/568682.jpg
Truck: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/258026-3x2-940x627.jpg
Train: http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/northwestnews/files/styles/x_large/public/201611/wyoming_coal_train.jpg
Barge: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0J8X9XWwVkM/maxresdefault.jpg
Ship: http://client.beechandco.com.au/portofnew/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Ship-coal-loader.jpg

Applications of coal

Coal applications on household

People all over the world have been using coal to heat their homes and cook their food for thousands of
years. Coal was used in the Roman Empire to heat public baths. In the Aztec Empire, the lustrous rock
was used for ornaments as well as fuel. Currently china and other developing countries still uses coal for
household purposes such us cooking and space heating (National Geographic Society).

Coal Application for transportation

Steam Locomotive
Tornado, the 50th A1 Peppercorn locomotive ever built. Completed in 2008 and still on service
on British rails
Image Source: https://www.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/styles/gallery_slide/public/images/car-reviews/first-
drives/legacy/xmas-rt-train-0103.jpg?itok\u003dTfpBne4R

Steam power is one of the most important and key aspects of the Industrial
Revolution. The invention of the steam engine created many changes and
additions to the technology of the time, including steam powered locomotives.
Steam locomotives are vehicles that run on rails or tracks and are powered by
steam engines. They were historically used for moving freight and other materials,
as well as passengers. Although they were a popular method of transportation for
a large part of the 19 t h into the 20 t h century, they were eventually replaced with
more modern methods of transportation. Today, most steam locomotives still in
operation are for historical, educational or entertainment purposes. Railroad
museums have exhibits on the history of steam locomotives, including preserved
and maintained steam locomotives. In some cases, they may even offer excursions
to the public (http://www.custom-qr-codes.net/history-steam-locomotive.html)

Liquid fuel

Coal-derived fuels, as well as coal-based electricity, can play a significant role in responding to
the growing energy needs of the transport sector. Liquid fuels from coal provide a viable
alternative to conventional oil products and can be used in the existing supply infrastructure.
Coal liquefaction is a process by which coal is converted to liquid fuel that allows coal to be
 utilized as an alternative to oil. Coal-derived liquid fuels are also sulphur-free, low in
particulates, with low levels of oxides of nitrogen, providing local and regional air quality
benefits in comparison to oil. Over the full fuel cycle, CO2 emissions of liquid fuels from coal can
be reduced by up to 46%, compared to conventional oil products, if co-processing of coal and
biomass is undertaken and combined with carbon capture, use and storage (National
Geographic Society)

International Energy Agency data shows that coal-to-liquid can be produced at a much lower
cost than gasoline and, together with natural gas, is the only alternative transport fuel able to
compete with gasoline even at very low crude oil prices of around US$60 per barrel (IEA, 2013)

Several coal-to-liquids (CTL) demonstration plants are being developed in China. CTL currently
provides 20% of South Africa’s transport needs including 7.5% of jet fuel. Coal is also an
important raw material and source of primary energy for the manufacturing of materials used to
build transport infrastructure, such as steel, cement and aluminum.

Industrial applications of coal

Electricity generation

Photo of Sual Power Station in Pangasinan, the largest Coal-fired power plant in the Philippines
with 1218 MW capacity
Image source: http://www.smcglobalpower.com.ph/asset/article-banner-img.jpg

Coal plays a vital role in electricity generation worldwide. Coal-fueled power plants currently
fuel 37% of global electricity and, in some countries, coal fuels a higher percentage of electricity.
Steam coal, also known as thermal coal, is used in power stations to generate electricity. Coal is
first milled to a fine powder, which increases the surface area and allows it to burn more
quickly. In these pulverized coal combustion (PCC) systems, the powdered coal is blown into the
combustion chamber of a boiler where it is burnt at high temperature. The hot gases and heat
energy produced converts water – in tubes lining the boiler – into steam. The high pressure
steam is passed into a turbine. The steam causes the turbine shaft to rotate at high speed where
a generator is mounted at one end of the turbine shaft. Electricity is generated when these are
rapidly rotated in a strong magnetic field. The electricity generated is transformed to higher
voltages (up to 400,000 volts) used for economic, efficient transmission via power line grids.
When it nears the point of consumption, such as our homes, the electricity is transformed down
to the safer 100-250 voltage systems used in the domestic market (World Coal Association).

Most of newly constructed coal-fired power plants are fitted with carbon capture technologies
to lessen its emission of carbon dioxide t the atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage
technology could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% then transforming the CO2 into liquid form
that will then be transported via pipeline. Captured CO2 is then transported to carefully selected
geological formations of up to 5000 meters underground to store the liquid CO2. This process of
storing CO2 underground simply imitates how nature stored oil and gas CO2 for millions of years
(The Zero Emissions Platform, ZEP)

Steel production

Global steel production is dependent on coal as 74% of the steel produced today uses coal
(World Coal Association). In order to produce steel, iron ore must be heated to separate the iron
from other minerals in the rock. In the past, coal itself was used to heat and separate the ore.
However, coal releases impurities such as sulfur when it is heated, which can make the resulting
metal weak. As early as the 9th century, chemists and engineers discovered a way to remove
these impurities from coal before it was burned. Coal will undergo a process which is called
coking in which coal is baked in an oven for about 12-36 hours at about 1,000-1,100 °C. This
drives off impurities such as coal gas, carbon monoxide, methane, tars, and oil. The resulting
coal material with few impurities and high carbon content is called coke. Coke is burned in a
blast furnace with iron ore and air that is about 1,200 °C. The hot air ignites the coke, and the
coke melts the iron and separates out the impurities. The resulting material is steel. Coke
provides heat and chemical properties that gives steel the strength and flexibility needed to
build bridges, skyscrapers, airports, and cars (National Geographic Society).

Cement manufacturing
 Infrared camera shot of blast furnace inside a high temperature kiln for cement manufacturing
Image Source: https://www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-
solutions.com/media/references/ammonia_1/cement_plants/key_original_brennen_image_w2000_h670.jpg

Coal is used as an energy source in cement production. Cement is made from a mixture of
calcium carbonate (generally in the form of limestone), silica, iron oxide and alumina. These raw
materials are then fed into a high-temperature kiln that heats the raw materials to a partial melt
at 1450°C, transforming them chemically and physically into a substance known as clinker. This
grey pebble-like material comprises special compounds that give cement its binding properties.
Clinker is mixed with gypsum and ground to a fine powder to make cement. It takes about 200
kg of coal to produce one ton of cement which is needed to make about three cubic meters of
concrete to build buildings, bridges, houses and other structures. Coal combustion products,
such as Fly Ash also play an important role in cement manufacture and in the construction
industry generally.

Environmental impacts
Smoke billows from coal-fired power plant stacks as a Chinese woman wears a protective mask.
Image Source: http://static6.uk.businessinsider.com/image/5898d2afdd089500558b48f5-1190-625/the-best-and-worst-countries-in-the-world-when-it-
comes-to-air-pollution-and-electricity-use.jpg

The environmental impacts of Coal mining are dramatic. The landscape is literally torn apart, destroying
habitats and entire ecosystems. Coal mining can also cause landslides and subsidence (when the ground
begins to sink or cave in), disruption of water flows of river affected that are dumped with overburden
of the coal mine. As a direct result of mining coal, Toxic substances leeches into the air, aquifers, and
water tables may endanger the health of local residents. Underground mining operations leave
significant tailings that are often-toxic residue left over from the process of separating coal from gangue,
or economically unimportant minerals. Toxic coal tailings can pollute local water supplies. Methane is
also released as a direct result of coal mining. For underground mining, the methane is constantly
ventilated out to the surface to prevent methane gas build-up on the mine that would cause
underground explosion.

Burning of coal also presents harm to the environment. Burning coal releases carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is an essential part of our planet’s atmosphere. It is called a greenhouse
gas because it absorbs and retains heat in the atmosphere, and keeps our planet at a livable
temperature. In the natural carbon cycle, carbon and carbon dioxide are constantly cycled between the
land, ocean, atmosphere, and all living and decomposing organisms. Carbon is also sequestered, or
stored underground. This keeps the carbon cycle in balance. However, when coal and other fossil fuels
are extracted and burned, they release sequestered carbon into the atmosphere, which leads to a build-
up of greenhouse gases and adversely affects climates and ecosystems (National Geographic Society).

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are also released when coal is burned. After release, the sulfur
dioxide is oxidized to gaseous H2SO2 which scatters solar radiation, hence its increase in the atmosphere
exerts a cooling effect on 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 (Barrie et al., 1984). Acid rain contributes to the widespread acidification of ecosystems.
Mercury is also emitted as result of burning coal. Emitted mercury when mixed with water transforms to
methylmercury, which is toxic and can accumulate in fish and organisms that consume fish, including
people.