TABLE OF CONTENTS Bruce G. Miller
Associate Director, Energy Institute
The Pennsylvania State UniversityDavid A. Tillman
Chief Engineer Fuels and Combustion
Foster Wheeler NA
Coal is the dominant solid fuel source worldwide. In this chapter, coal formation, coalification, and characteristics, with an emphasis on the organic/ combustible materials in coal, are discussed. (Note that a detailed discussion of the characteristics and behavior of the inorganic constituents is provided in Chapter 4.) Coal resources and reserves are discussed, with an emphasis on those located in North America and the United States. Coal petrography, traditional methods for analyzing coal, and evaluation of coal properties by nontraditional characterization methods (e.g., 13C nuclear magnetic resonance and drop-tube furnace characterization) are presented with an emphasis on how they are applied in industrial applications. Relationships between coal structure and behavioral characteristics are discussed.
Coal is a sedimentary rock composed of both organic and inorganic material. Coal is composed of macerals, discrete minerals, inorganic elements held molecularly by the organic matter, and water and gases contained in submicroscopic pores. Organically, coal consists primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and lesser amounts of sulfur and nitrogen. Inorganically, coalconsists of a diverse range of ash-forming compounds distributed throughout the coal. The inorganic constituents can vary in concentrations from several percentage points to parts per billion of the coal.
Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the United States as well as the world. At the end of 2004, recoverable coal reserves...
