Coal Processing & Utilization

"Coal preparation is the removal of undesirable material from the Run-ofMine (ROM) coal by employing separation processes which are able to differentiate between the physical and surface properties of the coal and the impurities.

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.

Through coal preparation, a uniform product is achieved.

Coal utilization is the combustion of coal or its conversion into useful solid, gaseous, and liquid products.

By far the most important use of coal is in combustion, mainly to provide heat to the boilers of electric power plants.

In addition, techniques for gasifying and liquefying coal into fuels or into feedstocks for the chemical industry are well developed.

Coal Processing and Utilization provides a brief description of the characteristics of the coal industry, presents an overview of coal extraction and processing methods, and discusses the major issues associated with coal mining and processing.

A summary of current research activities provides the context for recommendations for essential future research.

The salient feature is that all the technical terminology used in this book has been adequately clarified in order to allow the reader to understand the concepts effectively without needing to consult additional literature.

This book will be of immense valuable for professionals and engineers in the fields of energy, mining, mineral, metallurgical and geological engineering, in addition to engineering geologists and earth sciences professionals. "